Starcrossed
by Sir Perfluous
Summary: Having been separated across time and space, two lonely heroes find common causes in their new shared world, their family, and each other. [New 52 Continuity]
1. First Encounter

**Disclaimer: All the characters and related intellectual property in this story belong to DC and their respective creators.**

 **This is set loosely in the New 52 continuity and I'll probably be taking a few little creative liberties. Fair warning, this is my first try at a DC/Justice League fic so I'll pray I don't get skewered too badly in the review section.**

* * *

The acrid smell of car exhaust filled his nose as Clark Kent exited the taxi cab and stepped out onto the streets of New York City. As the cab departed back into the crowded roads of the city, the young reporter for the Daily Planet wrinkled his nose slightly. He knew that New York had always had a reputation for being a sort of dirty city, but his own heightened sense of smell certainly didn't help matters either. The early Spring air was cool and it was a bright sunny day, which unfortunately didn't match his glum mood.

As he walked down the block toward the hotel where he'd be staying, Clark huddled into his dark blue blazer and decided he might as well make the most of this field assignment. He had already been dragooned by his editor into covering a big expo of the major tech corporations, and for once Clark was grateful for a chance to get out of town. Right now, he wanted some time to just clear his head and focus on something new, especially after learning that Lois and Jon Carroll were involved in a relationship.

Even after he checked into his small room and set his bags down, Clark's mind still lingered a little bit on Lois and he mentally chastised himself. It may have been a little stupid of him to harbor any kind of feelings or hope that maybe something could have happened between them. It was inevitable such a one-sided affection would only end in disappointment. He had always admired strong confident women and Lois had those traits in spades, but with her perception of him as the naïve mild mannered farmboy Clark Kent, he had a lot working against him. It probably never would have worked out anyway. She didn't know the real him and it was probably for the best that she didn't either.

The fact that he had to hide parts of himself behind his civilian persona had always gnawed at him a little bit, not only when it came to his few brief brushes with romance, but in his own friendships as well. How ironic it was that Superman, a member of the Justice League and a champion of the people of Earth had his own difficulties in really connecting with them at an intimate level. After all, he was still an alien. Aside from his newly discovered cousin Kara who still didn't trust him yet, he was the last survivor of the planet Krypton, the only other one of his kind. He was an outsider. He had always felt like an outsider growing up and part of him feared that an outsider was all that he'd ever continue to be.

Clark gave a quiet sigh and stood by the window hoping he could banish away some of those morose thoughts if just for a few days. For now, he decided he'd just try to take in the new scenery, enjoy a few easy days, and hopefully find something interesting to keep him occupied during his stay in New York. He had heard some rumors from other members of the Justice League that there was a new superheroine making appearances here in this city. Although information had been sparse, this heroine had been calling herself Power Girl and helped to fight some of the local crime in discreet ways. Clark snorted to himself in amusement thinking that with any luck, maybe he would bump into her and land an exclusive interview of his own.

* * *

That evening, the lights remained on in the office of Starr Industries' CEO. Karen Starr sat behind her desk and tried to focus her blue eyes on the presentation slides she was reviewing. It was getting late and as much as she wanted to keep going, she knew this was going to be a losing proposition. She took off her glasses and her eyes drifted over toward a separate binder with the pet project she had spent the last few years slaving away on. If all went well tomorrow, the last bugs could be worked out of the new quantum power generator called the Caduceus Driver. Then she would be as close as she'd ever been toward finding a way back home to her respective dimension.

If she was going to be honest with herself, it had been easy for Karen to make a new life for herself here on this version of Earth. It had been a small miracle she had been able to craft a semi-faux identity, found a Fortune 500 tech company, and develop the means to create a boom tube portal. She had used subterfuge and at times, less than honest methods to secure the resources she needed, but it was all with her ultimate goal in mind, to find a way home. Then again, a part of her wondered what she would be returning home to. Her Earth had suffered great destruction from the attack of Darkseid and many of the world's greatest heroes had perished in the resulting violence, not least of all her own older cousin; the one the world knew as Superman.

Part of her knew that without him, the people of her earth would need direction and something to give them hope. Maybe that was the role she would be destined for but it was impossible to know. It had seemed odd to her that this world seemed so safe an innocent by comparison, unaware of some of the greater dangers out there in the cosmos. She knew this world had its own Justice League, but she had made it a point to keep her distance and fly low on their radars. For now she would keep up the facade of the civilian identity she had forged for herself, that of Karen Starr… and sometimes Power Girl.

She heard a knock at the door and Karen looked up to see one of her assistants poke her head in. The bespectacled secretary was a brunette, maybe barely out of college with a young and innocent look about her. She spoke in a slightly timid voice, "Miss Starr? I'm going to be leaving soon. Is there anything else you'll need?"

Karen shook her head tiredly and forced a kind smile, "No… thank you for all the hard work today Cecilia. Go home and get some rest."

"You'll have a big presentation at the expo tomorrow Miss Starr. I hope it goes well."

"Me too," Karen nodded in gratitude.

She waited for Cecilia to leave before she gave another sigh and pushed aside the papers on her desk. She glanced at her phone and wondered what her best friend Helena was up to. No doubt jaunting around the country and causing some sort of trouble. At the very least, Karen was glad she had been stranded on this Earth with Helena. Helena Wayne had been a sort of anchor and source of companionship during their time here, but even that wasn't enough sometimes. Unlike Karen, Helena had made a true effort to adapt to her new environment. Whether it was because she was more "human" than a superhuman Kryptonian, she couldn't be sure. Helena had often encouraged her friend to get out more and try to find a place in this world if this turned out to be their ultimate home.

In some ways, Karen wanted to believe her, but she couldn't fully accept that either. She often reminded herself that this was not her earth and that these were not "her" people. It had been Karen's choice to avoid forming any meaningful attachments to this place. If she and Helena found a way home, then she'd just be torn up inside all over again. Maybe that was part of the reason why Karen avoided this world's Justice League, and this world's Superman. She knew it would be too much to bear and she wasn't sure she'd know how to handle it, so it was best things remained as they were. Separate. Compartmentalized. Manageable.

She gave a sigh and took the binder labeled Project Halcyon before locking it safely in her desk drawer. There was no point in going any further tonight and she figured it would be best to focus on the promise of tomorrow. The only problem was dealing with the nagging feeling of loneliness that now hung over her tonight. For now, she'd just go home and prepare for next day where she would do what she had always done best here. Pretend.

* * *

The next day, Clark was greeted by a large bustling crowd that was attending the expo being held in one of the city's large convention halls downtown. Many of the attendees looked to be affiliated with several of the large tech corporations in the region, among the larger ones were Starr Industries, Lexcorp, and Wayne Enterprises. Scientists and technicians were busy setting up exhibits or giving demonstrations to visitors while other guests mingled over _hors d'oeuvres_ and champagne. No doubt the majority of these affluent well-dressed people were corporate executives and interested investors. Admittedly, Clark felt a little out of place here. To them, he was hardly worth noticing. He was just a lowly news reporter sporting a press badge and a cheap blue suit. But in another way, it was that kind of anonymity which Clark loved and used to his advantage. He may be an invisible outsider here, but it let him people watch; to listen to what they were saying and sniff out interesting bits of news.

After a few presentations were given, Clark worked the floor and idly looked over a few exhibits, hoping to find some other tidbits of news to pad out his article. As he passed a display that had been set up by Wayne Enterprises, Clark took a moment to wonder if the elusive Bruce Wayne would grace the expo with his appearance later on. It was sometimes hard for Clark to fathom the way Bruce carried on with an almost Jekyll and Hyde persona. Out in public he was billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, charming, affable, and charismatic. When he put on his cloak and cowl, he became the grim, sullen, and cynical Batman.

Clark dwelt on those idle thoughts for a moment before he turned and headed off toward the other end of the hall when he collided with another guest that had been passing by. The woman spilled some champagne from her glass on his suit and staggered sideways to try and catch her balance. Clark reached out with lightning quickness and caught her arm to steady her. As he did, he was surprised at the equally strong grip she had. Clark spoke quickly, "Oh, I'm sorry about that."

The stranger stopped and stared at him with an equally surprised look and Clark gasped as he recognized _the_ owner of Starr Industries, Karen Starr herself. She was a beautiful woman, probably no more than a few years younger than him. Maybe her mid twenties? Her short blonde hair was styled and tied up neatly and her eyes were blue just like his. Clark also couldn't help but notice she was tall with an athletic build and a curvy figure accented by the fancy white dress she was wearing. He quickly averted his gaze and let go of her arm, "Err... sorry about that Miss Starr. Are you okay?"

She blinked a few more times with a mixture of equal parts shock, fear, and intrigue at a person she had known all too well in her past life and never expected to see here either. Though this time it was very different. This was not the Clark Kent she knew before but one that was much younger and dare she admit more handsome? "I... I'm fine. Thank you Clark."

Karen paused again and blanched at sudden unconscious slip of the tongue as it was Clark's turn to blink in wide eyed surprise, "Sorry? I mean, I already know who you are, but I'm not sure we've ever been introduced before."

She waved it off and decided to try a different tactic, "Oh... well, you should give yourself a little more credit Mr. Kent. I do read the papers you know, even the Daily Planet. Your investigative _expose'_ articles on corporate business practices and corruption have not gone unnoticed by many large corporations in the region."

Clark gave a small wry smile, "Including yours? I'm flattered. I don't suppose you have anything to hide, do you Miss Starr?"

Karen fully composed herself and assumed the cool, confident, and aloof demeanor that she used in the boardroom to put people in their place. She met his look with a slow smirk of her own, "I run a clean operation and you know it Mr. Kent. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Wait," Clark said quickly gesturing to the champagne spill on the front of his suit, "There's still the matter of this."

Karen raised an impatient eyebrow and glanced to his suit. She was hoping to brush him off and escape but he wasn't making this easy. "Oh? What about it?"

"I was hoping you could make it up to me?"

Karen frowned having been caught off guard and surprised by the cockiness. This was definitely not the same Clark she knew and even if he didn't know who she was, it was a pretty big leap for a lowly reporter to even think of talking to someone such as her like that, "Mr. Kent, you aren't trying to flirt with me here are you? Because if you are..."

He gave a small laugh and waved it off, "You can take that any way you'd like Miss Starr. What I was actually getting at was maybe your letting me ask you a few more questions for my article? You can think of it like a special interview?"

Karen sized him up for a long moment and maintained her aloof attitude. She finally have a resigned sigh and glanced to her expensive watch, "All right. Fine. You have five minutes Mr. Kent."

Clark grinned quietly and led her toward the Star Industries booth containing its main exhibit. He hadn't expected that gambit to pay off, but it seemed that fortune favored the bold. He pointed toward the large spherical device sitting on a secure pedestal, "So... I was hoping you could tell me a little more about this thing. The Caduceus Driver?"

Karen crossed her arms patiently, "You were paying attention to my presentation of it earlier, weren't you?"

Clark nodded, "Yes. You said it has the potential to be a newer more efficient energy source and much more powerful than some of the nuclear generators currently in use. What I'm curious about it what you're aiming to get out of this. What exactly is Starr Industries' angle?"

Karen shrugged, "What else? The betterment of human progress and the all American dollar."

Clark rolled his eyes, "That's a pretty nondescript answer."

"But an honest one," Karen pointed out in amusement, "Next question."

"All right... this is some pretty cutting edge tech and you said it uses some extremely rare minerals. Don't you think that could be a problem later on if you produce these on a large scale?"

"We've only got working prototypes right now but I think you're underestimating the people I have working at my company Mr. Kent," Karen replied, "They're extremely ingenious and resourceful people."

Clark chewed his lip and decided to take a different angle, "I imagine you'd have to be so too. To be so young and steering a Fortune 500 company? You run with some pretty elite people. Industry leaders, moguls, and high flying investors? How do you manage to get some of these old established power brokers to listen and take you seriously enough?"

Karen smiled and decided to mess with him a little. She leaned over toward him slightly, "Let me just put it this way. When it comes to getting things done, I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

Clark held her gaze for a moment and felt the edges of his face grow warm as he gulped, "I... have no doubt."

Before he could speak again, Karen handed him a small white handkerchief for his suit and waved him off. "Well it looks like your five minutes are up Mr. Kent. It was nice meeting you and best of luck on that little article of yours."

As she began to depart, Clark stood staring in stunned silence before her heard the shattering of glass coming from one of the large skylight windows above the main convention hall. All the attendees froze and turned with shocked horror to see several monstrous alien machines burst in and land on the floor. They were large cybernetic creatures with a sort of sensor probe of a head that was equipped with and three glowing eyes arranged in a triangular pattern. Protruding from the head and body were several steel tentacle-like arms that spread out and raised the creatures up. It almost resembled a pack of robotic killer octopus creatures standing up on their legs to look around.

People began to scream and scatter in terror while the invaders began tearing up the convention hall on what seemed to be a direct course for the Caduceus Driver. Clark reached out and caught Karen's arm first hoping to get as many civilians clear before he'd deal with these cyborg invaders himself, "Miss Starr, you need to get clear right now! Run!"

She gave an exasperated huff of her own and pushed his hand aside, "You don't have to tell me what to do."

Those few moments of bickering cost them as one of the mechanical octopods scuttled directly in front of them at great speed and reared up menacingly. It lashed out with one of its heavy steel tentacles and sent the news reporter flying sideways into another booth. Had it been any normal human, they would have had several shattered ribs or some other serious injury but Karen didn't have any time to consider it as the creature produced a small telescoping weapon from its head and fired a ray beam. Karen dove clear just in time as the monster was joined by several other octopods and they gathered around the Caduceus Driver from Starr Industries.

As some of the smoke cleared across the room, Clark shook his head out and began to push some of the debris off him. Hopefully by now, enough people would have cleared out and he could take on these creatures without blowing his cover. Although he was still half buried in a collapsed display, Clark could see the space invaders reach out and poke curiously at the Caduceus Driver before he saw a heat ray beam similar to his own shoot out from somewhere and cut off the steel tentacle of one creature. He could only blink in shock when he heard a female voice call out and challenge the invaders, "Touch that again and you'll be loosing more than an arm."


	2. Conflict of Interest

Clark shifted and burst out from underneath the rubble. As he did, his civilian clothes instantly gave way to that of his cape and new sleek battlesuit. He was no longer Clark Kent, but once again the hero known to many as Superman. He heard the sound of a battle already going on and stared in surprise as the mangled form of one of the cybersquids crashed to the ground nearby. Several more of the robotic invaders remained but they were now being fended off by a superheroine in a revealing white supersuit of her own. She wore her blonde hair in a shoulder length bob and her red cape fluttered behind her as she swiftly put her gloved fist through the head of another robot and blasted it apart with a heat ray beam. That must have been Power Girl.

She cracked her knuckles and maintained her proud bravado toward the other enemies goading them on, "Come on... let's dance."

Despite her own superhuman abilities, she was still outnumbered and a few more of the large drones pounced on her to try and restrain her with their steel tentacles. Power Girl gave a defiant growl and began to fly upwards, trying to break free when another blue blur put a fist through one of the drones with a powerful punch. From where she hovered, Karen blinked in surprise as Superman grabbed a tentacle of the mangled drone and spun it around to batter the second one that restrained her. Both octopods clattered away and exploded causing the other invaders to take pause.

Clark turned and gave a cocky grin to the mysterious heroine as they hovered in midair, "Hi there. Mind if I cut in?"

Karen continued to stare in surprised amazement at this world's own version of Superman. Unlike the one she originally knew, this younger Superman had more of a leaner swimmer's build and he donned a suit which looked similar but gave off the appearance of sleek form fitting Kryptonian armor. In that moment of hesitation, a drone fired off another searing beam at the two heroes. Clark reacted first and pulled the distracted Power Girl clear of harm as the beam went wide and punched a hole through the ceiling. He turned back toward the remaining foes and fired back with his own heat ray before swooping in to meet them with the force of a speeding locomotive, "Come on! Let's take it to these guys!"

Karen quickly composed herself and followed suit as the two Kryptonians easily took apart the rest of the mechanical octopod drones. Despite never having met or fighting alongside one another before, they worked in perfect tandem covering each other and following up on one another's attacks. Amid the massacre of the drones, the last remaining one made another attempt to move toward the prototype power generator from Starr Industries. Before it could grab the Caduceus Driver, Karen picked up a fallen steel girder and smashed the drone into the floor like a bug.

The dying drone powered down before one of its tentacles convulsed and limply flopped to the floor just shy of its target. Karen gave a relieved sigh and dropped the steel beam before gently touching down and examining the octopod drone. Although it had been mangled, she gave it a close look hoping to figure out where it came from and who might have constructed it.

Clark floated down after the heat of battle had worn off. He looked over the wreckage of the convention hall, the mangled forms of the alien drones, and to the Caduceus Driver which seemed to have attracted them. At least no innocent civilians had been harmed. There would still be a few minutes before the local authorities showed up and he figured he'd make the most of the temporary quiet. He spotted Power Girl continuing to examine one of the drones before he walked over and approached her.

"Any idea what those things are?" he asked. She didn't seem to be too interested in any introductions or friendly chit chat. "Or maybe where they came from?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she shrugged giving the drone a small kick with her boot and casting another look to the unharmed power generator.

There was a long pause before Clark spoke again trying to offer a friendly compliment, "Well... I say we worked pretty well together just now, don't you think?"

She regarded him with cool disinterest and remained silent so he offered a friendly hand, "Okay... let's try this again. I'm Super..."

"I already know who you are," Karen said cutting him off with a level glare.

Again, she was doing her best to just put up her shields and get rid of him. It was confusing seeing an echo of someone she had loved and cared about in her old life, a reminder of what had been lost and the things that had tied her to her original home. She had to remind herself again that this was not her Clark and this was not her earth. She had to remain focused on her mission and who she was because this battle had not helped things at all. Seeing this young attractive hero in battle, this doppelganger of Clark, was becoming... distracting. "Thanks again for the help today Superman, but I've got everything under control here. It's best you get back home to Metropolis where you belong."

"Wait!" Clark called out but Power Girl had already taken off through the broken glass ceiling of the skylights above.

He took a leap and followed after her. He pushed himself and flew as fast as he could to try and catch up. As they flew northward high across the skies of New York City, the two heroes left contrails in the air before Karen turned around and looked over her shoulder and saw she was being followed. She gritted her teeth and gave an exasperated sigh before angling over and landing on the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper.

She crossed her arms and did her best to wear a look of annoyance while Superman gently landed a few seconds later. "You know... for having super hearing, you seem to have a hard time understanding what go-home means."

"And I guess it's true what they say about New Yorkers being rude and unfriendly," Clark retorted earning a pointed glare from Power Girl.

"You came after me all this way just to trade barbs?" Karen sniffed before turning to leave again.

"Wait. I'm sorry. I just wanted to talk," Clark said raising his hands slowly, "Please."

Karen stopped and gave a long sigh. She turned to look at him curiously, "About what?"

"To be honest... I don't really know," Clark admitted sheepishly, "I haven't gotten a chance to think that far ahead yet."

Karen raised an eyebrow in silence unsure whether to be annoyed or to laugh.

Clark raised a hand to settle everything, "Sorry... let me try again. I've only heard about you in some news reports and you've even gotten the attention of the Justice League. After everything I've seen today, I just had to ask... you're a Kryptonian? Just like me?"

Karen hesitated weighing things over in her mind. To be honest, she wasn't even sure why she had decided to stop and even give Clark a chance to talk to her again. He didn't even know that she knew who he was and it was for the best it stayed that way. Still, something unconscious seemed to compel her to stay and to open her mouth. "Yes. It's... a long and complicated story of how I came to be here. One that I don't feel like talking about right now."

"I see," Clark said quietly. Inside, he was thrilled with the idea of finding another survivor of his homeworld. It was the same kind of joy he had felt when he first learned about his younger teenage cousin Kara and now it seemed there was a third Kryptonian too... a very strong, feisty, and beautiful one too. He wanted to ask so many questions and his news reporter curiosity had kicked into overdrive but he decided it was best to not push things either. He simply gave a broad smile.

Karen tilted her head in confusion, "What are you smiling about?"

"I'm just happy I got to meet you... and I'm glad to know there's another Kryptonian around too. I already have a cousin here, but it's nice to know I'm not the only other one of my kind. Don't you think so too?"

Karen paused again and tried again to steel her heart before looking toward the skyline of the city, "It doesn't really matter what I think. Right now, I'm concerned about finding out what those robots were and how to stop whoever sent them."

Clark nodded with a hopeful look, "Maybe I can help? Maybe you can speak to the rest of the Justice League and they can help you too?"

Karen shook her head firmly, "No. No offense, but I have no interest in dealing with the League. As long as they leave me alone, I'm happy to stay out of their way too."

"Fair enough. If not the League, then maybe I can..."

"I appreciate what you're trying to do Superman but I've gotten by on my own this far, and that's how I want to keep things," Karen interrupted, "I get that you're excited about the whole Krypton thing too but just because we have that in common doesn't mean we're going to be all close and best friends either. You don't know anything about me."

"Then help me understand," he offered gently but Power Girl turned her back on him.

"New York isn't your turf Superman. Metropolis will need you so just go back home... please."

Before he could say anything else, she quickly took off into the sky and angled toward the sun so that he couldn't see her in the glare. In a few heartbeats, she was completely gone from sight and the skies were clear. Clark looked over the skyline in quiet dismay before giving a deep sigh of resignation. Moments before he had been feeling hopeful and elated and finding someone like him and possibly a new friend. But it looked like that was becoming more and more unlikely. As he stood looking out over the city from his lonely perch, he felt the same twinge of melancholy he had experienced when Kara pushed him away.

His cousin Kara had been through a lot already and while he probably didn't help things, he understood why she needed some space in adjusting to life on Earth. She needed time to learn to trust others, especially her own blood like him and he was willing to wait as long as it took. Until then, he now found his curiosity and thoughts lingering on Power Girl. What had she been through to have her act so coldly and push Clark away in the same manner? She hadn't even seemed all that happy or surprised in learning about him either. Maybe he was just getting his hopes up. Or maybe all Kryptonian women were crazy and acted like this?

He shook his head and decided to focus his energy into sorting out some of this new mess. At the very least, he had gotten something to distract him from dwelling on Lois and most of all, he would have a hell of a story to write in his next news column.

* * *

A few days later, Karen Starr was back at work again with a renewed determination to look into her newest pet project. She made her way to one of her company's high security research labs flanked by a couple senior scientists and guards. As she walked down the long hallway and passed security checkpoints, she tucked her digital notepad under her arm and let her mind wander for a few moments. She knew she had work to do, but her idle thoughts kept drifting back to her encounter with Clark... no, this world's Superman just a few days ago.

She had felt a mixture of strange feelings upon seeing him and fighting alongside him in battle; happiness, excitement, admiration, fear, confusion, and dare she say it... maybe even a hint of attraction? She hadn't expected to run into Clark at the expo much less take on a pack of alien invaders and she hoped that her act had been convincing enough to keep him away both as Karen Starr and as Power Girl. Yet, part of her couldn't help but feel a little regret and pity for him too.

He had seemed to eager and intent to talk to her. He seemed genuinely happy and hopeful at finding another alien like him and she had to put up a wall and push him away harshly. He had seemed so hurt and disappointed by her rebuff and while she didn't want to have to do it, she knew it was probably for the best. With the expo over and the mysterious alien attack over for now, they could both go their separate ways again and go back to business as usual and right now her business was to get to the bottom of these drones. She shook her head and cleared her mind before she entered the main high tech laboratory where one of the salvaged drones had been taken to. Several engineers bustled about while another pair of armed guards stood over it as a precaution.

"Miss Starr," one of the chief researchers began, "You know we took a huge risk in taking this thing from the scene of the expo. If the authorities find out about it..."

"I doubt they will," Karen answered coolly while taking off her glasses and walking over toward the ruined drone, "I don't think any of the cops counted the number of attackers and the rest of the government agents have more than enough to pick apart."

"I still think it's a little odd that Power Girl had taken one of the drones and left it in your care," the scientist mused.

"She must have some feeling of trust in us," Karen answered calmly, "Those things were after the Caduceus Driver so she must believe we have a way to figure out what this all means. I don't intend to betray her trust and let her down. I expect all of you won't either."

"No Ma'am," the other people in the lab answered dutifully before going back to their work. Karen nodded in determination and rolled up her sleeves.

"All right people, let's get to it. I expect results and I expect to see them soon."

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere in deep space, a large alien vessel cruised through the cosmos and opened one of its hanger doors allowing space probes to return from their scouting missions. Each of the scout drones glided over to their respective docking ports along the walls and plugged in to upload their newest findings. Vast amounts of data were transmitted to the central core processor of the vessel's computer systems. Much of that information related to telemetry taken of planets that had been surveyed. The most important information that was filtered out were those planets that contained advanced civilizations or unusual life forms.

All the pictures, sounds, and recorded data were transmitted to a wall of several monitors that had been arranged in the ship's central command room where a humanoid figure sat in a chair watching them all at once. The figure sat sifting through the vast amounts of images and readings that flew by the screens at impossible speed until it spotted one screen with some unusual telemetry. The figure raised a hand and the other screens stopped and allowed the one in question to focus and slow down its visual readings.

On the screen images were displayed of a blue watery planet with a yellow sun. It looked to be the third planet of its star system and was called Earth by many of its inhabitants. While the largest cities on the planet had achieved some minor degree of advanced technology, it was still far behind many of the other worlds that this vessel had encountered. The cities and technology were of minor interest and would likely be more of an amusement, but the main draw was the unusual readings that were taken by drones in the city called New York.

Not only had the drones detected energy signatures from an advanced power generator, but also the sighting of two members of the Kryptonian race. It was known to many that the planet had been destroyed some time ago and chances of finding any survivors was next to impossible. The figure continued to watch impassively as the male and female Kryptonians destroyed the landing drones with incredible power. They would make excellent specimens for study.

The mysterious commander leaned back in its seat and let a cybernetic jack from the chair plug in to the base of the figure's neck. From it, new commands were relayed to the helm control to change course. It would likely take some time to reach the planet Earth, but the promise of finding some Kryptonians was an opportunity too tempting to pass up.


	3. Investigative Journalism

Up in the Watchtower high above Earth, the leading members of the Justice League had assembled for a routine meeting to update the others on major developments and discuss some organizational issues. At the head of the large conference table, the Martian Manhunter chaired the meeting and was finishing taking a vote on some new proposed security protocols. As he sat at the table, Clark was only half paying attention as his mind drifted back again to his run-in with Power Girl in New York several days ago. He was snapped back to attention when he heard J'onn's voice call him for the second time, "Superman? What do you think?"

Clark cleared his throat and tried to not look too caught off guard, "Sorry, I was just thinking it over more. Those changes sound just fine J'onn."

The other League members eyed Clark for a moment before the Martian Manhunter shrugged, "Then it's agreed. If there are no other matters, then this meeting is adjourned."

Clark lingered behind and gave polite smiles to his other teammates as they got up and headed out of the room. The only other person that lingered was Batman who sat across from him at the table giving a curious look from under his dark cowl. A moment of silence passed before the Dark Knight spoke, "Something on your mind Superman?"

Clark got up and eyed the empty room before looking back to his comrade, "You could say that. I was wondering if I could get your help with something Bruce."

Batman remained quiet and listened as Superman continued, "I was hoping you could look into something for me. Maybe do it discreetly."

"Oh? Why me?"

Clark offered a wry smile, "For one thing, I've heard others praise you as an amazing detective."

Bruce rose from his chair and walked out of the room with Clark into the now empty hallways, "Deciding on going the route of flattery? I'm guessing this has something to do with your little business trip to New York recently?"

"How did you know about…" Clark began but then stopped when he realized it was a stupid question.

Bruce maintained his stone cold look and continued walking toward a computer lab before Clark sighed, "Yes. More specifically, I'm interested in Starr Industries."

"Doing another investigative journalism piece?" Batman asked off-handedly.

"I'm interested to know why they would seem to be targets of this new alien attack. Power Girl seemed to be a little too interested with Starr Industries' newest prototype too."

"The rogue heroine?" Bruce asked, "You think she knows what's going on and isn't telling you something?"

"I don't know what to think yet," Clark admitted, "But I'm wondering if there's some kind of connection in all this. She didn't seem too thrilled with the idea of getting the League involved, but if there's a bigger threat out there, then we should know."

Bruce mulled it over for a long moment as they entered the lab before giving a small nod, "All right. I'll do some digging, but do you think you can afford to trust her if push comes to shove?"

Superman gave a solemn look and nodded, "She's Kryptonian. I can't afford not to."

Clark stepped back and watched as Bruce sat down to the computer and began to do some research. Normally it would take most people a long time to sift through all the data that was popping up onscreen but Bruce knew some shortcuts and where to look for what he needed. Clark could only sit back watch with an impressed look as Bruce did his work. Unlike most of the other League members, Batman didn't have superhuman powers. He couldn't fly by himself, move buildings, or take bad hits from other superpowered beings so Bruce had to make up for it in other ways, namely his intellect and his resourcefulness. After a short time, Bruce sat back and scratched his chin, "Hmm… very interesting."

Clark came over to observe Batman's work and saw a screen full of records along with digital news articles. Batman asked, "How many of those drones did you say there were in your battle?"

"I counted eleven," Clark answered.

"According to these news reports, the Feds reported having recovered ten drones. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That Starr Industries R&D Lab must be pretty busy right now," Clark hypothesized while crossing his arms, "Maybe that Caduceus Driver has some sort of alien tech attached to it? Or maybe something about it attracted them?"

Batman narrowed his eyes pensively, "Maybe. Power Girl is technically an alien too."

"You think she has something to do with this?' Clark asked.

"I think someone is hiding something," Bruce answered, "And Power Girl might not be the only one."

He pulled up a record screen of Karan Starr, "I was looking over the records of the CEO just now and found some odd discrepancies."

Clark frowned and scrutinized the screen a little more, "Everything looks to be okay."

"Maybe to the untrained eye," Batman corrected him, "Look at the record again. Everything prior to five years ago is either vague or seems a little too fabricated."

Clark raised an eyebrow, "You think Karen Starr is covering something up… maybe some kind of illegal activities?"

"I think there's more to her than she's letting on," Bruce stated bluntly, "She might not be who she says she is... and it might coincide with your new Kryptionian girlfriend."

Clark gave slight scowl at Batman before Bruce spoke again, "Notice that five years ago is also when the first reports surfaced of Power Girl coming on to the scene fighting crime in New York. She might have kept a lower profile, but it's all here. Don't you find that a bit curious?"

"Wait a minute Bruce... you're not suggesting that Karen and Power Girl are the same person, are you?" Clark asked incredulously.

Batman maintained his stoic countenance, "Your words. Not mine. I'm just saying there are an awful lot of coincidences."

Some of those things did add up, and Karen was nowhere to be found for some time after the attack either. Clark gave a pensive look and began to walk toward the door. Batman turned his head and called after him, "Superman! Where are you going?"

Clark gave a sidelong look and a small smirk, "Maybe a little more investigative journalism."

Batman frowned, "I don't think confronting her is a good idea. You're playing a dangerous game and if we're right about Karen Starr, we might create a powerful adversary if you tip your hand."

"I doubt she wants to be our enemy," Clark answered, "We have to try and reach out... understand each other at least, especially if there's a threat from some other enemy out there."

Batman, who had always been more of a guarded person and a cynic when it came to human nature simply frowned and wore an unhappy look, "Are you sure you're not doing all this for the League, or for yourself?"

Clark returned the annoyed frown and headed out of the room, "I appreciate the help today Bruce. I promise I'll keep you updated."

Batman shook his head and called out after him, "For your sake I hope you're right about this!"

* * *

The next day, Karen Starr sat at her desk going over stacks of paperwork in her office. She glanced up at a clock and saw that it read 1:30 PM. It was already past noon and she still hadn't gotten around to eating lunch. Despite her own superhuman abilities, she was still not immune from feeling hungry or getting distracted by it. She sighed and set down her current file when she heard her assistant page her on her phone. "Excuse me, Miss Starr? I have someone here to see you?"

"I don't have any one o'clock appointments Cecila," Karen answered, "Tell them I'm busy and I can't see anyone."

"This man is very insistent," Cecilia replied, "He says he's a journalist from Metropolis. Mr. Clark Kent?"

Karen's eyes went wide and she felt a slight wave of panic bubble up within her. She cleared her throat and took a moment to clear her desk and compose herself, "I see. It's all right Cecilia. Please send him in."

Karen leaned back in her chair and assumed her cool and calculating persona watching as the bespectacled news reporter in his dark blue suit entered the spacious well-furnished office. Clark took a look around and saw the light coming in from the bright airy windows while trendy modern pieces lined the shelves and wall. He gave an approving nod before walking forward toward the main desk and offering a polite smile, "Miss Starr. I apologize for dropping by on short notice, but thank you for meeting with me."

Karen gestured to a chair and then folded her hands slowly, "I admit this is a bit of a surprise Mr. Kent. I wasn't expecting to see you, especially after what happened at the expo. Last I saw, one of those alien machines had thrown you clear across the room and I figured you'd be in the hospital."

"Chasing down news stories can be dangerous at times. Let's just say I have a knack for landing on my feet and not getting too banged up," Clark answered with a cryptic smile.

"I imagine there's not much else to report on over here," Karen pointed out, "It's been more than a week and I'm sure you'd rather not waste your time with a long drive from Metropolis."

"Oh that's okay. I flew," Clark said studying her features and looking for any reaction. Karen raised an eyebrow and then cast a level gaze at him.

"In that case, I'll save us both more time. What can I do for you Mr. Kent?"

Clark spoke calmly, "I'd like to ask you a few more questions about what happened at the expo. Namely about those drone things and your company's new power generator."

"What of it?"

"I'm curious to know why those alien drones might have seemed so interested in your project, Clark said, "I imagine that's some pretty advanced tech that your company deals with."

"Of course," Karen said dismissively, "Who wouldn't want that kind of energy resource? A lot of research goes into developing those working prototypes."

"Including research of alien technology?" Clark asked to prod her further, "Would Starr Industries also be interested in researching things like the wreckage of those drones too?"

"I don't know what you're talking about or where you're coming up with those outrageous claims," Karen answered sharply, "The authorities picked up all the drones that had been destroyed."

"All except for one."

"And how would you know that?" Karen demanded, clearly looking a little unsettled now.

"I have my sources," Clark replied with a small smile.

Karen scowled, "If you're just going to sit and bother me with baseless accusations, then I think we're done here Mr. Kent."

"I don't think it's all that baseless," Clark said reaching for a file that he carried and presenting her it to her, "I think you're the one who's been evasive and hiding things."

Karen opened the file and looked in alarm at her own fabricated records that Batman had printed out and picked apart marking discrepancies. She glared at Clark and tried to deflect her growing fear with a display of outrage and anger, "What is this? Are you trying to strong-arm me here? Is this some kind of sick joke Mr. Kent?

"It's no joke," he said seriously, "Those records are falsified and you know it. If you know anything else about this alien technology or the missing drone, then I'd like you to tell me the truth Miss Starr... if that's your real name."

"Am I going to have to call security on you?" Karen asked as she rose up from her seat.

Clark shook his head, "No. I imagine you can handle yourself just fine Miss Star... or should I call you Power Girl?"

Karen fell silent and wore a mortified expression on her face before deciding to finally level the playing field. She had not expected for any of this to happen, for them to even meet or let alone figuring out one another's identities. She would play the game but wouldn't reveal her entire hand either. Karen took a deep breath and changed her expression to that of an equally smug smile to match his.

"I'm impressed. I'll have to give you some credit because I didn't think you'd look into things this deeply. I underestimated you Mr. Kent... or should I call you Superman?"

Now it was Clark's turn to panic and fall silent. Karen couldn't help but smile inwardly and enjoy the sight of Clark squirm for a minute trying to figure out what to say next. After a long pause, Clark adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, "Well... it looks like we're in a bit of an awkward position now, aren't we?"

"Yes, I'd say so," Karen agreed as she removed her own pair of glasses and set them down on her desk, "You realize we're kind of in a mutually assured destruction scenario here, right?"

Clark nodded, "Yes but I'm hoping it doesn't need to come to that. At the very least, we can start by trying to be a little more open with each other, don't you think?"

"That's a big ask," Karen said while crossing her arms, "Why should I even try to open up about anything here? And to you of all people."

"You do remember who I am, right?" Clark reminded her, "Last I checked Superman was one of the good guys who doesn't do that kind of stuff."

"We hardly know anything about each other."

"Then let's fix that," Clark said with a thoughtful look on his face, "Have you had lunch yet?"

"Really? You're asking me out to lunch?" Karen said skeptically.

"To talk business. Yes," Clark answered before flashing a small joking smile, "Unless you'd rather I pencil in lunch with Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl instead."

Karen gave him an incredulous look but couldn't find a reasonable excuse to decline without sounding like a complete bitch either. "You're serious here, aren't you?"

"We're both interested in protecting the people around us so I think it's important we try to find some common ground here. Being honest and hearing each other out would be a good place to start."

Karen considered it for a minute. Maybe his actions of coming today to confront her here had been little brash and bold but she could understand. She was just as young and daring herself, but his words rang true to the same fundamental character of the older wiser Superman that she had known and admired. One that always tried to see the good in other people and extend a kind hand to those who were in need of it. For a brief moment, she saw the same kind of light in this man before her and she couldn't refuse.

"You're not involving the rest of the Justice League on this, are you?"

Clark shook his head, "No. You said you want us to respect your privacy so this is all just between you and me. So what do you say, Miss Starr?"

"Karen. Call me Karen."

He gave a small hopeful smile, "Okay Karen. Are you still up for this?"

Karen gave a deep sigh and took her purse which was in her desk. She looked to him and began to walk toward the doorway, "All right Clark. Let's do lunch... but I'm choosing the place."


	4. Getting to Know You

Well dressed wait staff buzzed around the main floor of the fancy Capital Room restaurant tending to their tables while Clark and Karen were seated. Karen give Clark an amused smirk after they set down their menus and ordered, "This is one of my favorite spots, one of the trendiest in New York. Hopefully you don't mind going a little upscale today?"

Clark answered with thin smile knowing she was sticking it to him a little bit. If the prices and the offerings on the menu were any indication, he was certainly out of his element especially on his modest news reporter's salary. If this was some kind of reminder that she was out of his league, then she was doing a good job of it. He kept his voice low, "Let's just get right to it. I had to do a bit of digging and called in a favor to learn more about you. But you already seem to know a lot about me when we've never met before."

Karen shifted slightly, "That's not entirely true. Where I came from, I already knew you... an older more experienced you anyway."

"How can that be?"

Karen frowned to her herself and hesitated before speaking softly, "This might sound a little crazy, and I sort of doubt you'll believe me... but I came from an alternate version of this Earth... or rather, I grew up there. In a lot of ways it was similar to your world and had its own Justice League until..."

"Until what?"

Karen clenched a fist, "My Earth was devastated in an attack by vicious aliens. Many people died fighting them off, including several members of the Justice League."

Clark fell silent at the sobering story and simply nodded feeling a little bit of pity for this young woman now. Karen continued, "My friend Helena and I had been sidelined from most of the horror in order to keep us safe but we were caught in a sort of dimensional portal that stranded us here. Ever since then, she and I have spent the last five years trying to figure out a way to get home."

Clark considered her words, "I wonder what's going on in that version of Earth."

"For all we know, there might not be anything left," Karen said, "I try not to think about it too much, but I just feel like I need to get back there."

"And Krypton?"

Karen shook her head, "It's destroyed in that timeline too. I'm sorry."

Clark sat quietly as they paused and let the waiter bring them their food. Once he had left, Clark spoke again, "Are you sure there's nothing that the League can do for you? Or anything I can do?"

Karen stirred her bisque soup, "No. This is my problem. I'm going to deal with it myself."

"I'm guessing that the Caduceus Driver has something to do about it then?" Clark guessed, "You've been developing tech to get you home and this relates to the aliens who attacked?"

"Yes to the first part and no to the other," Karen answered, "My people are still looking into it and figuring out what those things were."

Clark took a sip of water, "Maybe the things that destroyed Earth-2?"

She shook her head, "No. Those were not the same aliens. I was being honest when I said I didn't know where those things came from."

A brief quiet fell over the table as the two ate their meal. Finally Clark broke the quiet again, "You know... while you're here, we might need your help in the future against these aliens that showed up and..."

Karen raised her hand, "Hold it right there. I'll protect my own turf here but I'm not too interested in looking out for the whole world either. No offense, but this isn't exactly my home either."

"Is that why you're being so stand-offish about everything and everyone?" Clark asked. "Because if it is, I think it's kind of selfish and hypocritical of you."

"Excuse me?" Karen said putting down her utensil with an indignant frown.

Clark sighed, "You say that this Earth isn't exactly your home, well what makes Earth-2 all that different? From what I understand, Krypton should be our true home."

"What are you getting at?"

"We found homes in our respective Earths and as of these last five years, this Earth has been your new home too. Listen... I get that you want to go back, but don't you feel any responsibility to the people who have given you a place here? Whose lives are affected by your presence here?"

"Says the guy secretly hiding his powers and masquerading as a mild mannered news reporter," Karen retorted, "Face it Clark, we're outsiders. As much as we try, we might not understand these people and they certainly wouldn't understand us. If anything, they'd fear us and see us as some kind of dangerous threat."

"I never claimed I was an expert with relating to people," Clark answered calmly, "And I often feel the same way you do about all this, but this is the only home we have. All we can do is keep trying."

"Is that also why you're here then?" Karen asked, "You were hoping you could try again and talk me into being your friend or something? Because we're both superheroes with a couple other things in common?"

"Well... if I'm being honest, maybe there's a little truth in that too," he shrugged sheepishly, "Can you really blame me for being a little curious and wanting to talk to a fellow Kryptonian? Especially when it's a pretty girl?"

That compliment caught Karen off guard and she felt her cheeks grow a little warm before she took a breath. She regained her composure and decided to deflect the conversation a little, "What about this other cousin you mentioned? Don't you have her to talk to?"

"It's... complicated," Clark admitted with a grimace, "My cousin Kara... she's been though a lot and is still adjusting to things here. I don't think she fully trusts me yet and wants her space to sort things out. I really can't say I blame her either."

Karen gave a sympathetic look and felt pity well up in heart. She still did not want to reveal to this Clark that she was in fact his cousin Kara... at least in her own timeline. What still amazed her was how very different things could be in these alternate realities. In her own Earth, she had adapted to her new home relatively quickly and she had bonded with her older cousin just as easily. If she hadn't she would have felt even more lonely, miserable and lost. She couldn't imagine how her counterpart here felt, or even how that might have hurt this Clark here. If it was Kara's decision to push Clark away right now, did this say something about Karen by extension. Wasn't she doing the same thing, only in a different way?

It was bad enough being an alien outsider on a new world, but to be estranged from your own remaining family seemed like a torturous thought. It suddenly made her miss her own deceased cousin back home all the more and while she still didn't fully accept that this was also Clark, or rather Kal-El she couldn't help but feel sympathetic. This conversation wasn't making things any easier to not getting attached to things here but Karen decided to make the most of it. She reached out and gently touched his wrist, "I'm sorry about that Clark. Maybe in time she'll come around."

"Thanks. I hope so," he said giving a hopeful look toward Karen. He shifted his hand slightly and turned it to touch hers too, "I... know this might sound a little crazy, but part of me hopes that you'd reconsider my offer. I'd still want to try and talk to you more in the future and hopefully, try to be your friend too. You don't have to be completely alone Karen."

Karen grimaced and withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry Clark... I still don't think that's a good idea. You'll just have to trust me. You don't want to get involved any further with me and that's probably best for the both of us."

She hated to do that and to hurt him again, but she had to stand firm and focus on her mission. If doing this was what it took, then she'd just have to bite the bullet. Clark stopped and wore an unreadable look before giving a slow nod. "All right."

"Oh... um, you're sure?"

Clark took out his wallet and calmly pulled out some money to cover the whole meal. "I'm sure. I'm glad we got a chance to talk one more time, but I can see how focused you are on your own goal. I don't want to get in the way of any of that."

"I'm sorry..." Karen said apologetically. Now she was really feeling awful.

"Don't be," Clark said rising from the table and putting on a good face, "I wish you luck with getting home Miss Starr. I've already taken up enough of your valuable time, so I promise you don't have to worry about me bothering you any further."

He gave a polite nod and headed outside leaving Karen sitting at her table feeling more alone than usual this time.

* * *

Meanwhile aboard the large alien vessel in deep space, the cybernetic ship captain made its way to the bridge. The ship was largely autonomous so there was little need for a crew. There was even smaller need of the viewports looking forward into space, but the captain found the aesthetics pleasant. It enjoyed viewing the approach toward the worlds it visited as it made it's task even more enjoyable later. It was still a ways from Earth but it decided that perhaps another probe was in order. Unlike the small scout probes, this new model would be a much better way to test what the captain would be up against when it reached the planet.

It neared the main console and extended its hands letting cables extend out and plug into the computer ports. Streams of data were exchanged and the order to deploy the newest drone was relayed. It would go on ahead of the main ship and perhaps even subdue some of the specimens. If it was lucky, the show might even be a mildly entertaining diversion for the captain. It unplugged its arms and walked toward the largest forward port. There it would wait patiently until the ship would reach Earth and seize upon its next greatest find.

* * *

Another work week came and went for Karen as she worked late again one evening. There had been a lot of meetings and administrative issues to deal with this week along with updates on the testing of the Caduceus Driver. Although they had displayed a working prototype power generator at the recent expo, it only worked at a fraction of its true capability. More testing and tweaking of the systems had been done and the results had been encouraging. They were making great progress at working out all the bugs and getting the generator to work to its full potential. The thought of returning home still clung to the back of Karen's mind but now, so did her last conversation with Clark from a week ago.

Even though she had justified her actions in her mind, she still felt badly about the way they had parted company. It annoyed her that in her attempt to make a clean break of things and avoid feeling anything, she had only seemed to make the problem worse. Even if it hadn't been Clark's intention either when he left, that guilt now hung on her shoulders every time she put her mind on going home. By the time she got to her last stack of work, she was surprised to find a new report buried at the bottom. She looked at the cover sheet and saw that it was an analysis from her lab about the alien drone that had been recovered from the expo. She considered locking her door for a moment but brushed off the idea before opening the binder.

She paged through and skimmed over the findings, including some breakdowns of the system schematics and comments made by the engineers. She stopped when she saw a familiar pattern that had been stylized on the drone as well as in some of its circuit configurations. There were three distinct circles linked together in a V pattern meaning that this was the work of none other than the evil artificial intelligence known by some as Brainiac. It had been speculated that he was responsible for miniaturizing and stealing the Kryptonian city of Kandor long ago.

Although Karen never had any direct dealings with the alien menace, she had heard about how dangerous Brainiac could be. There had been many instances where those defending their worlds believed they had vanquished the AI, only to find it was only a body double. She also knew that Brainiac had a thing for collecting rare specimens and looting worlds meaning that he was likely on his way here to find something. Perhaps it would be her power generator, or even some of the superhumans here on this world.

She closed the binder and thought it over with silent dread. If this alien were to attack the Earth in some way, would she even be strong enough or prepared enough to defeat him? She liked to think so, but Karen couldn't be totally certain either. Maybe Superman had been right after all... but after what had been said and how they parted, that would make things difficult. That would also mean she would have to reach out and confront Clark, likely on his home ground in Metropolis. She was reluctant to admit it and thought scared her, but she couldn't afford not to spread the warning to him either.

She took a few deep breaths before hitting the pager on her phone to notify her secretary, "Cecilia. Clear my schedule for the next several days. I'm going to be going on a business trip to Metropolis."

"Yes Miss Star," her assistant answered, "But it's too late to book any transportation tonight. You might have to wait until tomorrow for me to arrange..."

"That's all right," Karen said with a small smile, "I plan to fly there and I think I can figure out a way to do it fast and cheap too."

She ended the call and Karen got up from her desk to look out the window of her office. She took a moment to admire the evening lights of the city before looking toward the horizon. She would have a lot to think about tonight and a lot more to figure out once she would arrive in the city of Metropolis.

* * *

The next day, Clark Kent arrived in his workplace at the Daily Planet. He walked though the doors of the busy building as he always did; on time with a hot cup of coffee in hand. After he navigated the bustling news room, he sat down at his desk and cleared off some papers. As he began to go over some of his notes and type out material for his next column, he glanced over to see one of his friends approach. A younger photographer by the name of Jimmy Olsen came over with a broad smile and a friendly wave, "Hey, morning there Clark. How's it going?"

"Everything's good Jimmy," Clark said as he continued to work, "You seem awfully chipper today."

"Well why wouldn't I be?" Jimmy said as he casually sat down on the corner of Clark's desk, "It's Friday, the weather will be great, and I've got a hot date lined up."

Clark raised an eyebrow with mild interest, "Oh? Anyone I know?"

"Probably not," Jimmy admitted, "It's a relative of Lois's boyfriend, Jon Carroll?"

"Ah. I see," Clark answered curtly. He liked to think he wasn't a petty person, but even now he still couldn't help but feel a little displeasure at the mention of Jon's name.

"You didn't have any major plans this weekend, did you? Jimmy asked, "You would've been able to double date with me and Emilia."

"Well I guess it's just not in the cards for me," Clark sighed trying to contain his minor feelings of annoyance.

He knew Jimmy wasn't doing this on purpose and he was just being friendly, but it still felt like putting some salt in an open wound. It was bad enough that Lois was already seeing someone but he was still feeling a little sore about getting a gentle cold shoulder from Karen Starr. Granted, it was probably a long shot and never would have worked anyway, but he'd be lying if he said Karen wasn't an incredibly attractive woman, both as a civilian and as Power Girl. He had been genuine in his desire that they could become better friends, but maybe he also hoped it could possibly lead to something more over time. After all, they were both Kryptonian and in some ways knew how each other felt. Unfortunately, there was little he could do at the moment but accept that this was the way things were. Maybe Batman had been right after all.

Jimmy nudged Clark, "Hey cheer up Clark. If you want, maybe I can see if Lois would be willing to hook you up with one of her cousins or something."

"Absolutely not," Clark answered adjusting his glasses with a disapproving frown.

Before Jimmy could say anything further, one of the building's security guards named Chuck entered the news room. He was a portly graying man with a friendly face and today he had a visitor in tow. "Hey Clark! I've got a visitor here. She says she's here to speak with you."

Clark turned and his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw who it was. It was Karen. She wore a pleasant smile along with some dark business clothes, a skirt and a small blazer over a low cut white blouse. Jimmy looked on in awe before Chuck gave Clark a conspiratorial little wink and headed back downstairs. Clark blinked again and choked out a few words, "Miss Starr... I... what a surprise."

"Hello Mr. Kent. Nice to see you again," Karen said extending a friendly hand which he took.

Clark turned and gave an introduction to Jimmy, "Jimmy, this is Karen Starr, the owner of Starr Industries. We met at the technology expo in New York a few weeks back."

Jimmy offered a meek greeting before Karen turned to Clark again, "I'm sorry for not giving you more advance notice. I had just flown in to Metropolis on business and was in the neighborhood."

"Err... no trouble at all," Clark replied.

"Great! Are you free right now? I had promised you that exclusive interview after all," Karen said sweetly while putting on an act for Jimmy.

"Right... I can make myself free. Just a sec," Clark answered while fumbling to collect things from his desk, "Uh, Jimmy? Hold the fort down while I'm gone? If Lois asks, I'm doing an interview."

"You got it," Jimmy said scratching his head as he saw Clark and Karen walk off and head for the elevators.

As they reached the elevator bank, Clark shook his head in amazement, "All right Karen, I'm pretty confused right now. I'm glad to see you and all, but what the hell is going on?"

She spoke quietly and gave a pointed look, "I needed to speak with you about something important. It's about the drones we recovered. Can we talk?"

The elevator doors opened and Clark escorted her inside, "Only if I get to choose the place this time."


	5. Three's Company

The sound of chirping birds filled the air as Clark and Karen took a seat on a bench in one of Metropolis's public parks. Although they could hear the noise of the city traffic some distance away, they were a little more insulated from the clamor and attention of the streets. They both held cups of coffee and watched as few gray pigeons scratched at the nearby grass looking for grubs. Karen took a sip of her drink, "Pretty simple and low key. And here I thought you were going to try and get back at me for the Capital Room."

Clark gave a faint sidelong grin, "What can I say? I'm a cheap date. Now… what is it about those robots that brought you all the way here?"

Karen grimaced and began to tell him about what her lab discovered. She told him about the threat of the psychotic AI called Brainiac and what limited knowledge she had of it herself. A lot of it had been relayed to her secondhand from the Superman of her own timeline so she felt a little uncertain about making speculation too. When she finished, Clark sat back and thought it over quietly.

"You think this rogue AI might actually think about coming to Earth? If those things were scout probes, it's always possible we could have scared it off."

Karen shook her head, "Brainiac is a machine. It doesn't feel fear. If I had to guess, it's probably going to be more interested in us now. It likes to collect valuable things from other worlds so it could study them and grow even more powerful."

Clark nodded in agreement, "And things like the Caduceus Driver and the two of us probably fit the bill. There aren't too many superpowered Kyptonians running around Earth."

"The only question is, when?" Karen added, "It could be today, tomorrow, maybe even two months from now."

"So you came asking for my help in case this Brainiac character shows up?" Clark summarized.

"It seems to be that way," she admitted, "Maybe you're getting your wish. You wanted to work together and be in more regular contact with me, didn't you?"

"Well sure, but I wasn't expecting it would be under these circumstances," Clark answered with a thoughtful look, "Still… I'm glad you came Karen. And you can count on my help."

"Thanks," she said quietly, "I just thought you should be aware."

They settled into a brief companionable silence and watched the people in the park before Clark spoke again, "I was thinking… maybe there's more to Karen Starr than she's willing to let on."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"That you care more about this place than you'd like me to believe. I thought you said this wasn't your home."

"It's not, but…"

"But what are you going to do if you finally get that power generator working and can go home tomorrow?" Clark asked, "Would you be willing to just up and leave when you know something bad might happen to New York? Or even the rest of the world? That there are even greater threats out there?"

Karen paused a moment and frowned to herself. As much as she wanted to go home again he had a fair point. She was a hero. She did care and she still felt responsible… just in a different way. It was the same way she had felt differently about this other Clark and how she continued to feel differently and it was becoming more and more problematic for her the longer that she dwelt on it. She would just have to do what she'd always done and keep the guard up around her heart.

"I'm sure the Justice League is more than capable of dealing with things like that," Karen answered evasively.

"Maybe," Clark shrugged, "Or maybe not."

She gave a slight defensive huff, "Listen Clark, if you're trying to get me to have second thoughts and stay here on this earth, then you've got it all wrong."

"You can do what whatever you want Karen," Clark said reclining on the bench, "I'm just reminding you of all the good you've done here already and maybe some of the things you have left to do."

They looked at each other for a moment before Karen sighed and leaned back on the bench too, "You've been making a lot of sense lately. It's getting kind of annoying."

Clark gave a gentle laugh before Karen rose to her feet, "Well… I guess I should be heading back to New York. I guess it was my turn to take up some of your time today."

He waved it off, "Forget it. You still have the whole rest of the day. You might as well stay in Metropolis. There's always something going on and…"

He was interrupted as a large armored object fell from the skies and landed in the middle of one of the park's grassy fields. Once the smoke and dirt cleared, the large object shifted and began to open up in segments before converting into a somewhat humanoid form… as if it were some kind of Transformer. The alien robot finished folding and reassembling its bulky army plates before powering on the two large light emitting diodes in its circular shoulder plates making them look like large eyes.

Civilians began to scatter and flee in screaming droves as the new robotic menace emerged from its landing spot and revealed the third diode in its chest forming the familiar triangular pattern of Braniac. This was one of its more advanced Hunter drones. The Hunter reared up to its full height and powered on its cyclopean eye sensor to scan its surroundings. The drone raised one of its arms which contained a gattling blaster and it began to test fire several shots to scatter the crowds and damage several buildings.

"I'm guessing this isn't one of your city's attractions, is it?" Karen quipped before she and Clark dove in different directions to find cover in some of the surrounding hedges of the park.

As the Hunter swiveled its head and looked around the park, it used its sensors to try and locate the Kyptonian bio-signatures nearby. Before it could turn its head completely, it caught a blurred form of a female Kryptonian rocket forward. In an instant, the Hunter was battered backward by an incredibly powerful punch while the ringing sound echoed in the air. As the drone staggered for a moment, Karen hovered nearby and shook out her knuckle. The moment of chaos and her super speed had given her just enough time to quick change into her superhero persona within the hedges. She had delivered a good blow, but it was clear this new enemy was much tougher than the octopods and was packing a lot heavier armor and weaponry.

She raced forward and again and delivered another vicious punch that drove the Hunter back before it activated a force shield from its diodes and stopped her third punch cold. Power Girl gasped as the robot grabbed the edge of her cape and flung her into a pavilion before a second Kryptonian suited up and joined the battle as well. Superman flew low and hit the Hunter from the flank, bull-rushing it back through several trees to try and get to an even more open area where there were less civilians. He used his aerial momentum and shifted his weight, hurling the hunter back down to the cleared ground in a superhuman style judo throw. He pounced on the downed drone and began to hammer it with several blows while weakening its armor.

The Hunter again activated its shield projectors from its shoulders and raised it arm with the blaster cannon. It fired an energy bolt point-blank which sent Superman hurtling back into the treeline before the bolt exploded into a fiery cloud. The Hunter aimed another follow-up shot at the explosion but its cannon arm was smashed aside by a concrete park bench at the last second. The shot went wide and exploded in some nearby grass before Power Girl drove back the Hunter again with a flying kick this time. The kick shattered one of the diodes and caused the Hunter to reel sideways.

PG back-flipped off the impact and sailed upward into the air while dodging a swing from the enemy. As she rotated in midair, she prepared to counter with a heatvision beam but was surprised when the drone raised its other arm and deployed an energy net that snared her completely.

Before she could react, the Hunter sent an electric current through the net and stunned Power Girl with an intense shock. Amid the smoke, Karen toppled to her knees in a daze and tried to regain her senses when a second heart ray was fired from the near distance and blew off the drone's appendage. The Hunter fell backwards in momentary surprise as Superman recovered and raced back over to help his new comrade. He began to pull the metallic netting off her and Karen gave a grateful nod as he helped her back to her feet, "Thanks for the backup."

Before he could answer, the Hunter opened up two armor flaps from near the sides of its neck revealing banks of small compacted rockets. It unloaded a volley and the spiraling projectiles exploded around the two heroes. Clark gritted his teeth and shook off the blast, "Okay… this guy is getting really annoying now, but we're going to have to take him down together. You with me?"

Karen glanced over and saw the severed cannon arm of the Hunter and nodded, "Yeah and I think I have a plan. Keep that thing occupied for a minute. Have it use its shields."

Clark nodded and engaged the Hunter by firing a sustained heat ray while Karen rushed over and recovered the arm cannon. While the Hunter raised its remaining shield, Karen pulled at a few circuits and wires to re-arm and reconfigure the weapon systems of the cannon appendage. As the drone held its ground against Superman's attack, it opened up its missile banks again but Karen swooped in close with her one cannon for one last shot. She let loose and the blast from the reconfigured energy cannon passed straight through the shields and detonated the rockets. As the upper armor of the drone were already weakened from prior attacks, the entire upper torso of the drone exploded in a tremendous blast that rocked the grounds of the park.

Having been caught in the fireball and the energy feedback, Karen was thrown back end over end before landing hard on the ground in a stunned heap. Clark immediately came to her side to prop her head up, 'Karen! Are you okay? That was really reckless!"

She cracked open an eye and gave a tired smile, "It worked… didn't it?"

Before Clark could answer, she briefly passed out as was followed by a call on the Justice League comms. It was Bruce and he spoke in a grim voice, "Superman? We picked up a disturbance in Metropolis. What's going on? Do you need help?"

"Negative. Everything is under control here," Clark said quickly before cutting off the link with a grimace. The last thing he needed right now was the whole League getting involved. It was only a matter of time before they started asking more questions and trying to intervene so he decided to do what he could to keep things under control in his own city. Without wasting another moment, he scooped Karen up and swiftly took off to get her to safety and hopefully figure out their next move.

* * *

Meanwhile back on his carrier ship, Brainiac sat in his command chair and watched the video feed that had been relayed back to him by his Hunter drone. Before the signal cut out upon the drone's destruction, the AI studied the two Kryptonians who had battled back against it. It was unlikely the drone was going to succeed but it was a calculated sacrifice. It gave Brainiac a better measure of what sort of force he would be up against later on. He had already planned some effective countermeasures against the two but was not about the reveal them just yet. For now, there was plenty left to study. Even more interesting was a stray life sign that the drone warrior had picked up upon its entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

Quite unexpectedly, it had revealed the presence of a third Kryptonian, only in a neighboring city to the other two. It looked to be that of a younger female, only it bore a strikingly similar reading to that of the older one in Metropolis. It was possible the two female Kryptonians could have been close family, csisters perhaps? Even so, the readings were far to similar even for that of siblings. How could that possibly be? Brainiac sat back in his chair and began to calculate any and all likely theories and possibilities to this mystery. Fortunately, there was still time left before his ship reached the planet. No doubt solving that would prove to be an even more interesting diversion because as far as the malicious AI was concerned, he had all the time in the world.

* * *

Later that day, late afternoon sunlight hung over the orange skies of Metropolis when Karen awoke. She shifted and rolled over, surprised to feel a pillow and a soft mattress underneath her. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around to find herself disoriented in an unfamiliar setting. It appeared she was in someone's apartment bedroom. The outside window was open letting in fresh spring air along with the light of the city below. Otherwise, it was a clean and simple if modestly decorated room. Karen looked to a chair by the desk and saw Clark's blue blazer hanging off it and then she shook out her head to remember what happened earlier from the battle earlier. She sat up and pushed aside the bed sheets to see she was still in her Power Girl uniform. Except her red cape folded neatly at the foot of the bed nothing else was amiss.

She looked up and heard footsteps before there was a knock at the half open door. The door opened and Clark stepped inside, dressed down to a pair of casual blue jeans and a red t-shirt. "Clark?"

"Hey sleepyhead. How are you feeling?" he asked, "Better?"

"Yeah. I should be okay," she sighed, "Hopefully I wasn't down too long?"

Clark shook his head, "Not really. I figured it'd be best if you had a safe place to rest up after that fight."

She nodded appreciatively, "Thanks. Are you okay?"

"Just fine. Lucky for me, I had some time to write up my next article on Superman's exploits... with a big assist from Power Girl of course."

She gave a wry look and he shrugged before offering a hot cup of steaming liquid in his hand, "I was brewing a little hot tea. You want some?"

"I don't suppose you've got anything stronger?" Karen quipped as she accepted the cup, "Honestly, I'd be happy to get back into my street clothes and..."

Before she could say more, Clark reached down and picked up Karen's large purse from near the doorway. He handed it back to her, "I went back after the battle and figure you'd probably need this. It's got your street clothes tucked away in there."

"Oh... thanks," she said, "I don't know what to say."

"It's fine," Clark waved it off modestly, "Don't sweat it. I'm sure you would've done the same."

Karen sat quietly and looked over her bag. Of course she had helped in the battle but she hadn't expected Clark would have been such a gracious host either. Sure this Clark seemed to have a little more edge and youthful attitude than his older counterpart in the other timeline, but deep down, he had the same good heart it almost kinda made Karen feel a little bad about the way she had treated him before, especially because he was being so nice now. "You've done more than enough and I'd be imposing. I should really head out and let you be..."

"Karen, it's okay... really," Clark said as he headed for the door, "It's getting late anyway. If you're not feeling up to it, then feel free to stick around for a day or two. It's Friday night and there's plenty of time to relax. I'll just crash on the couch if I have to.

He closed the door and headed back into the living room to give her some privacy so she could change. As Karen sat by herself in the room with the fading sunlight from the window, she looked over her purse again. Part of her wanted to just pack up and go, but part of her also felt like she owed Clark at least a little gratitude. Maybe offering a meal or cleaning up his place? She also wanted to stay and talk about the recent battle with the newest drone and what it could possibly mean about a future threat from Brainiac. For now, she just decided she'd take Clark's advice. It was Friday night and there was plenty of time to rest and sort some more things out.


	6. Kissing Cousins

The next morning, Clark sat in his apartment's living room watching a recorded baseball game on television while finishing breakfast. He heard the door to his bedroom open and Karen emerged rubbing the sleep from her eyes. While she had always appeared very put together when on the job, or even battling alien robots it was a little unusual and amusing to see Karen looking a bit disheveled for once and very… well, human.

"Morning," Clark called before turning off the game, "I made a couple extra pancakes and strips of bacon. They should still be out on the counter."

"First… coffee," a bleary eyed Karen muttered while going directly for the coffee maker and pouring a fresh cup.

She took some food and walked over toward the living room couch, "So I guess you should be the one thanking me right now."

"How do you figure?"

Karen sat down primly to eat her breakfast and she gave a wink, "It's a pretty major boast to say that you had Power Girl in your bed last night."

"Ha ha, very funny," Clark sighed while rolling his eyes. "It seems no good deed ever goes unpunished."

Karen finished her meal and cleared her throat, "So… about yesterday, and that second Brainiac attack. That's not a good sign, is it? Are you thinking what I am?"

"That he might be getting closer and focusing us?" Clark mused, "It crossed my mind, yeah. I've been debating ever since last night about telling the Justice League."

"You're getting them involved after all?"

"For now I think it's best that they know a little bit about what's going on. At least we should keep them on watch for any danger," Clark said, "I'll do what I can to keep you out of it and not have the League be too nosy about your own business."

"I appreciate it," Karen sighed in resignation, "I guess it can't be helped, huh?"

When she finished her meal, Clark asked, "So I'm guessing you're headed back to NYC now?"

"Actually… I was thinking about sticking around a little while longer," Karen replied gesturing around her, "I was thinking about what you said yesterday about being responsible and doing good, so I wanted to start here by paying you back for all the help and hospitality you've given."

"Come on Karen, you shouldn't have to. It was no trouble… really."

She shook her head, "Please Clark. I insist. I'd feel more guilty if I didn't."

Clark thought it over and shrugged, "Well... I guess so. What did you have in mind?"

"How about a nice dinner out? My treat," Karen said as she got up and wagged her finger toward him, "And unless you've got a whole closet full of them, for the love of God, don't wear one of your same old boring blue suits. I'll meet up with you later, okay?""

He raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And where are you planning on going right now?"

"Out to get a few things," Karen answered while pointing to her mussed hair and wrinkled clothes, "If I'm going to hit the town later tonight, I can't go out looking like this, right?"

As she headed off to the bathroom, Clark gave a little sigh and shook his head before he took the remote and turned the baseball game back on.

* * *

Later on, early evening began to set in over the city as Clark and Karen sat on the outdoor rooftop patio of the Aviary, an upscale restaurant of downtown Metropolis. It was a perfect Spring evening, clear skies and mild temperatures. Clark took a look around and straightened out the collar of a gray suit jacket he had opted for tonight. Karen watched him with amusement and folded her hands, "Don't worry. The suit looks good. They won't kick you out of this place."

"It's not that," Clark admitted sheepishly, "I always feel a little awkward in places like this. I guess I'm just one of those simple working guys who's always been more used to burgers and fries. The only time I come to places like this is for, well..."

"Big dates?" Karen offered, "Well relax. This is definitely not a date. It's how we execs do our business sometimes. Think of it as just a casual dinner meeting between two colleagues who work together."

Based on the form fitting white cocktail dress she was wearing, it could have fooled Clark but he decided hold his tongue. He gave a shrug and sighed, "It's probably just as well. I don't really go out on dates much anyway."

"Oh I know what you mean," Karen mused, "Me neither. I'm usually too busy with work, but it's also an issue of..."

"Not wanting to tie yourself down to much here?" Clark guessed.

She nodded and took a sip from a wine she had ordered, "It's kinda hard to relate to a lot of people in forming those kind of relationships, especially for 'uniquely talented' people like us."

Clark gave an amused smile before glancing to the skies above, "Still... I think it would be kind of nice to settle down and maybe start a family one day."

"That might be kinda hard," Karen pointed out, "The DNA of people like us is a bit different than a lot of others here. There could be a much greater risk of problems."

"Really? I... never knew that," Clark said in surprise. "There's actually quite a bit I don't know about my heritage. I haven't had anyone or anything to teach me so I've kinda learned a lot of things on the fly."

"Hopefully that was not an intentional pun," Karen retorted before she heard another woman's voice call over to their table.

"Hey Smallville! Is that you?"

Clark froze in dread and glanced over to see Lois come over to the table with her boyfriend Jon. Clark gave a feeble laugh, "Lois? Uh... hi. What are the odds of meeting here, huh?"

"You can say that again," Lois remarked, "So are you going to keep us all in suspense here? Introductions?"

"Ah... right," Clark said hurriedly, "Karen, this is Lois Lane, one of my coworkers."

"One of the Daily Planet's lead reporters," Lois added proudly as she shook Karen's hand, "How about you Karen? First year lawyer? New model maybe?"

"Business owner actually... of Starr Industries," Karen answered with a smirk.

Lois's eyes nearly popped out of her head, "Wait... hold on a sec. Then you're..."

"The Karen Starr? That's right," Karen answered politely.

Lois blinked a few times and cleared her throat, "Well I can see I'm in some really elite company then. I don't want to bother your meeting. I'm guessing Clark is pitching some business idea to you?"

Karen cast a sly grin over to Clark and reached out to touch his hand, "No, more like a date. Looks like you're batting 0 for 2, Miss Lane."

"Ah... well, I'd better quit while I'm ahead then," Lois answered sheepishly before stepping back and looking to Clark.

"Treat her nice and don't mess this up Smallville. That's a classy lady right there."

Once Lois and Jon left to find their own seats, Clark and Karen stifled a quiet laugh between them and he gave a relieved look. "Thank you."

"Now we're officially even," Karen laughed as she took her wine glass and swished it around a little. Clark could only smile in gratitude because at the moment, it was pretty hard to argue against that.

* * *

Later that evening, they returned to the apartment for a nightcap. Karen removed her shoes and sat down on the living room couch while Clark tossed his jacket aside and went to the kitchen to fetch a pair of tumblers and a bottle of scotch. He returned and poured a little bit of the liquor in the glasses before handing one to her. "Well, here's to an… 'interesting' night out and the best non-date I've been on."

They clinked glasses and took a little sip of their drinks before Karen gave a thoughtful look, "You know… I wasn't really expecting it, but I had fun. It was a nice little visit here, even with the whole killer robot attack."

"I guess we like to try and keep things interesting here in Metropolis," Clark chuckled, "But I'm glad you stuck around a little longer. Thanks."

"It's kind of a shame I never really spent much time touring around here and seeing how different it was from my own timeline," Karen mused, "With all my work, sometimes it feels like I don't get much of a chance to stop and sniff the roses, you know?"

"You mean to just act like a regular person?" Clark asked, "To just go out, do normal things and talk to someone else who gets it... the double edged sword of living a double life, huh?"

"Oh it's not all that bad," Karen laughed gently, "The superpowers are still pretty cool and so is the all attention from the adoring public."

"Oh… I'm not entirely sure it's just the superpowers that the general public is fixating on," Clark teased gently.

Karen frowned at the innuendo and gave a defensive huff while slapping his arm, "Oh no! Not you too!"

"I always did wonder a little why you've got that whole boob window thing going on with your outfit," Clark laughed as he continued to give her a hard time.

"It's for tactical reasons," Karen insisted.

"Uh huh... if you say so," Clark nodded, obviously humoring her.

"You know what? Just shut up and pour me another drink will you?" Karen sighed as she gave up arguing.

He refreshed their tumblers and got up to put the bottle away in the kitchen. While he did, Karen stood up to look around the apartment a little more. She paced about and compared the place to hers. Of course, she was used to her large expensive condo with nice furnishings and lots of air and light. Like her, Clark lived in a high rise and had a great view from his window and balcony, though it was probably half the size of her home and less cutting edge modern. Still, there was something to be said about the tidiness and simplicity of the place. It had a touch of Clark's modest Midwestern roots. It felt warm and homey.

She continued to walk around and she stopped when she saw some framed photos that were sitting on a nearby ledge. She got up and paced over to them to get a closer look. She immediately recognized the people in the photo as Clark's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent. It looked like it was taken several years ago back out in the farmlands of Smallville. Karen couldn't help but smile at some of warm memories of their own kindness to her as well.

By now, Clark had returned and he walked over to join her by the ledge near the windows. Having been caught up in a moment of nostalgia caused Karen to slip up a little as she asked, "I'm guessing this is Ma and Pa Kent?"

Clark gave a surprised look and came over to the picture, "Yeah how did you…"

"Just taking an educated guess," she answered quickly, "And doing my best to not sound like a complete city girl."

Clark took the photo and gave a longing look to it before setting back down gently. She picked up on the look and asked, "How are your folks? You talk to them recently?"

Clark sat down with a slight frown, "I couldn't tell you. They both passed away some time ago."

"Oh… I'm so sorry," Karen said in surprise. That was certainly another new development on this Earth.

"Don't be," he answered trying to put on a good face about it, "I still miss them but I've gotten by on my own for a while now."

Karen glanced away with a wistful look, "Still… I'm sorry. I'm sorry you've had to be alone like this, especially not having much of a family at all now. That's no way to live."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure it's a lot worse for you," Clark answered as he continued to stand beside her and look at some of the other old pictures on display, "At least my life has always been here. I can't imagine what it would be like getting ripped away from everything I knew and loved… coming to a new reality where everything is similar but different... where you can't be totally sure of everything that you knew before."

Karen smiled faintly, "Well… at least I can tell you that you're still a lot like the same old Superman I knew from before."

"Yeah… about that," Clark said wrinkling his features, "I couldn't help but notice. You seem to know an awful lot about him."

"Oh, well… we were very close," Karen said prompting Clark to give a sideways glance.

"Wait… you don't mean like…"

"No! No! Nooooo!" Karen sputtered quickly, "It wasn't like that. It's… complicated."

Karen stopped and took a deep breath to collect herself before speaking again, "Superman was a person I really looked up to and admired. He helped me during a very difficult time in my life and he helped me to find my place on my own Earth. He and his family welcomed me and showed me nothing but love and kindness and I… I just…"

She didn't know if it was the the scotch, the nostalgic pictures of the Kent family, the memories of the past, or just the whirlwind events of the last few days but all of it began to wash over Karen all at once. It had been at least five years since she had spoken this frankly to someone. She was so used to being in control and keeping everything bottled up but now it was all beginning to spill out; the homesickness, the loneliness, the frustration, and the melancholy that had been buried under the outward persona of Karen Starr that she had crafted for herself. She reached for her eyes as they began to tear up a little and she fought back against a few sniffles.

"I'm sorry. This isn't how I normally am," she said as she tried to keep from crying a little, "Gosh, this is so embarrassing."

Clark came over and tentatively put an arm over her shoulder before drawing her into a comforting hug, "It's okay. There's no shame in it."

Karen hugged him back and continued to try and maintain her composure while her tears soaked into his shoulder, "I really miss him."

"For what it's worth, I'm still here and I promise this world's Superman is not going anywhere," he said trying to sound reassuring.

Karen wiped her eyes and pulled back slightly to study his face in silence. Again, maybe it was the liquor, the lonely feelings, the adrenaline rushes of the last few days, or a combination of them all, but in that moment there was a lot of unspoken feelings being conveyed. They felt a strange sense of camaraderie, a little fear, and maybe even a feeling of vulnerability too, a comforting sense that they could let their guards down and easily relate to one another. But in that hazy moment, there was also a bit of mutual attraction that didn't seem to dissipate the longer they stood there in each other's arms.

Clark gently brushed aside some Karen's blonde hair and slowly leaned forward touching his lips to hers. After a moment of hesitation, Karen closed her eyes and returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around is neck and drawing him close to her. As the warm tender kiss grew deeper and began to intensify, Karen gasped and suddenly let go, breaking off contact. She stepped back and covered her mouth while struggling to regain her wits. Whether it was a look of embarrassment or shame on her face, it was hard to tell. "I'm sorry... I... I shouldn't have done that."

Clark could only blink in surprise and confusion, "Wait... what?"

He watched as Karen quickly began to head toward the corner of the living room and fumble around trying recover her belongings that she took with her to Metropolis. "Hold on, did I do something wrong just now? Because if I did, I'm sorry..."

"No. No. Trust me, I'm the one who should be sorry," Karen said hurriedly grabbing her things, "This is all my fault and I shouldn't have stuck around this weekend. I should really go now. Uh... thank you for everything Clark."

He held out a hand to stop her at the doorway, "Wait Karen! Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Have you gone mental? One minute you like being around me and the next you're giving me the cold shoulder. Tell me what's going on in your head because I have no idea what to think anymore."

She paused and hesitated for a long moment deciding on whether or not she should drop the biggest bombshell. She had tried her best to stay away, to keep from bonding with others here on this Earth and most of all getting romantically involved with anyone. She had now failed in all three of her personal ground rules. At this point, she had nothing left to lose. "I didn't want to get involved with you before and I shouldn't have kissed you just now either."

"What? Why?"

Karen looked him right in the eye, "There was a reason I was so close to the Superman of my world. He was my cousin."

There was a long moment of silence as Clark feebly struggled to try and process that new fact after getting blindsided, "Your cousin? So that makes you like..."

"Kara? Yeah," Karen admitted, "Maybe like ten years older but that's me... kind of, anyway."

"You're really serious? You?" Clark asked again and she nodded apologetically.

He took a few steps back and looked to be at a complete loss, "I... don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," Karen said, "I'm so sorry about all this. I... I should just keep this from getting any worse and just go. Excuse me."

She gave him one more quick kiss on the cheek before leaving out the door. The door clicked shut and Clark stood frozen in place wearing a blank look on his face. He still felt like his brain was working at half speed and he didn't know what to feel either. He could honestly say that in his short tenure as a superhero, he had seen some pretty crazy stuff already, but he was not at all prepared to deal with something like this. He wasn't sure if he felt more upset or embarrassed but whatever he would ultimately decide on, he felt like just as much of an idiot right now. At least for the moment, he was glad the rest of the Justice League wasn't very involved with this situation because if they were, he knew that Batman would be giving him his withering trademark glare and saying "I told you so."


	7. Separation Anxiety

It had been nearly two weeks since her visit to Metropolis and the events around her leaving still weighed heavily on Karen's mind even after she had returned home to New York. She hadn't intended for things to happen the way that they did and part of her still struggled to figure out her feelings about it. Part of her was still a little embarrassed but she had also enjoyed the moment too. It had been nice to feel close to another person who understood some of the same things she dealt with. If she was being honest, part of her had also wanted to let her guard down and be intimate with someone else, to not feel so cold and isolated anymore. She reminded herself that in a way, the Clark Kent of this world was still her cousin… but in other ways he wasn't either. Were there even rules about that? Would it be that taboo or bad if one had begun to feel some kind of attraction or romantic desire for a cousin from a completely different reality? Hadn't there been plenty of other similar arranged marriages and unions long ago in regular Earth history?

Karen shook her head and tried to dismiss such thoughts as she sat through the rest of the boardroom meeting she was involved in. It had been hard to concentrate today and she was glad when the meeting finally adjourned. She gathered her things and headed back toward her office when she ran into her secretary at the door. The younger woman gave a smile and handed Karen a new file, "Oh Miss Starr, I'm glad I found you."

"Another fire I need to put out Cecilia?" Karen asked with a sigh as she entered and took the folder, "It's been a grueling day already."

The secretary shrugged, "I don't know. This came from the labs and they seemed to be pretty excited. Hopefully it's good news."

She left and closed the door leaving Karen alone in her office. To her surprise, the folder was sealed and she stopped to open it before skimming over the contents. As she went on, Karen's eyes went wide and she felt her pulse quicken. If she was reading this new report correctly, it said that the final tests on the Caduceus Driver had been successful. She now had a fully operational power generator, one that would be able to power the rest of her special equipment and get her back to her home dimension.

Karen closed the file and stashed it away while trying to think about what to do next. She had to call Helena and get her back to New York as soon as possible. She also debated about trying to get a few things in order for the company if its leader were to just mysteriously vanish all of a sudden. She didn't want to leave the employees of Starr Industries high and dry because like it or not, she had grown to feel some kind of responsibility toward her people. That only made her think of Clark again.

What was she going to tell him? Should she even tell him? Would it be best to just leave without saying a proper goodbye or even giving him a reason? Then there was the matter of Brainiac. If he was coming to Earth, would Clark and the rest of the Justice League be able to deal with it alone? She liked to think so… but now she wasn't entirely certain either. She gave a sigh and sat down, torn about what to do. She had once thought that when she had finally reached this moment she would be ecstatic, but now it seemed she was far from it and even more unsure about how to feel. She buried her head in her hands and slumped over on her desk, "Damn."

* * *

Meanwhile back in Metropolis, Clark had been feeling much the same that day and simply went through the motions of his work. At the end of the workday, he sat back from his desk and rubbed his eyes before Lois came over with several sheets of paper. She raised a questioning eyebrow and asked, "Hey Clark, is everything okay with you? I was just going to take this to the copy editor and saw that this column you wrote was riddled with errors."

"Oh… sorry. I think I'm just having an off day today," Clark said evasively.

Lois picked up on his manner and placed the papers in his inbox for revisions tomorrow, "Come to think of it, you've been acting a little odd these last several days. It wouldn't have anything to do with your new lady-friend, would it?"

Clark gave a slight frown and picked up his coat and briefcase, "No. Everything is fine and you don't have to worry about Karen either. There's nothing going on right now."

"Nothing going on, eh?" Lois prodded, "What does that mean?"

"Good night Lois," Clark muttered as he left her and walked out of the office. He grumbled to himself as he left the building and continued to walk home. He decided to take a detour through a nearby park and stopped when he saw the bench where he and Karen had their impromptu meeting a few weeks ago. He wrinkled his brow and sighed as he continued to walk, "Come on Clark… get a grip."

It had been bad enough he had to deal with Lois some days, but his relationship fumble with Karen had been even worse. He was still trying to wrap his head around her claim that she was his cousin… or at least distantly related to him in some way. He wasn't sure if he was more embarrassed by the whole incident or just disappointed that she ran away. He had finally come across someone who seemed to understand him and what it was like having super powers while leading a double life. It was even better she wasn't involved with the Justice League. Otherwise, it would have been like dating a coworker with all kinds of added risk and awkwardness. Now he was back to square one again. Maybe it would just be better if he just resigned himself to a lonely existence and hid out in a remote fortress of solitude like a hermit.

He didn't have too much time to dwell on his dark thoughts as he felt his cell phone vibrate. He looked at the caller ID and blinked in surprise as it saw that it was Karen. During their dinner, they had exchanged phone numbers just in case there was some sort of trouble but he hadn't expected to get a call since he last saw her either. He tensed up and walked over a more secluded spot by some trees wondering if there was some kind of alien attack going on and he answered the call. "Hello?"

"Clark? Hi… it's Karen."

"Is everything okay? Are you in trouble?" he asked deciding to focus on the possibility of danger.

"Everything is fine. I'm okay," she said quietly, "I know we gave each other our phone numbers to call in case of trouble, but I… I felt I should call you. I know when we left off, there was a lot of weirdness."

"Yeah that's probably the understatement of the century," he said, "I'm still confused though Karen. Why now all of a sudden?"

"I wanted to speak to you. It's about something important."

"Uh… okay?"

"I really wanted to speak to you in person," she said, "Do you think you could find some time in the next few days to come to New York? Maybe on Friday?"

Clark hesitated, "I guess so. You're really sure?"

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

She hung up leaving Clark standing in the park still scratching his head in confusion. Whatever this was about, he would be determined to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Elsewhere, one of Brainiac's carrier ships across the cosmos made its way toward the edge of Earth's orbit. In the far distance, the spaceship's sensors could pick out the Justice League Watchtower floating over the blue sphere, but the ship stayed just clear of visual range. From his command chair, Brainiac surveyed the planet and began making notes of interesting things it wanted to plunder from the world. It also traced the bio signatures of the three errant Kyptonians located on the North American continent and highlighted their general positions. If the cybernetic being could smile, it would have but instead chose to carry out the first part of its plan. That would involve the younger of the two Kryptonian females to ultimately serve as bait for the other ones. Instead of sending some if its stronger attack drones, Braniac deployed a small group of the octopod scouts and sat back to watch things play out as it predicted.

* * *

A few days later on Friday evening, Karen paced restlessly around the living room of her condo. She had gotten some other things in order and was expecting for Clark to arrive soon but she still didn't seem to know how she wanted to say what was on her mind yet. This was definitely not like her and she mentally cursed herself for having seemingly lost her nerves. Maybe this whole thing was a bad idea? She turned off the television and headed over toward the outdoor patio that gave a panoramic view of Manhattan. As she opened the glass doors, she was surprised when she saw Clark descend from the night skies and gently touch down on the deck. His Kryptonian suit gave way again to his civilian clothes, a pair of casual khakis and a blue collared shirt. He gave a sheepish smile and shrugged.

"Sorry... I didn't feel like bothering with a doorman or an elevator."

"Clark come on in," she said leading him inside. Just like her main office, her home was equally trendy and tastefully decorated with an expensive modern look.

"Wow... nice place," he commented.

"Can I get you anything?" she asked hesitantly, "I know it's a short flight here and all but..."

"I'm fine," he said, "Now about why you called me here? Is everything okay?"

Given their awkward parting two weeks ago, that was certainly a loaded question. She paced a few more steps and chewed her lip, "First... I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry again about a few weeks ago. That was a pretty big bombshell to drop and I can understand if I freaked you out a little bit."

"It was definitely a shocker," Clark agreed, "Especially since we let ourselves get a little carried away. It was feeling more and more like a date and I just felt really comfortable around you, you know? I felt like I could open up and just be real."

Karen gave a faint smile, "I know what you mean. I was feeling the same way and if it means anything to you, I don't regret kissing you either. It was, well... nice."

"Even if in a weird way we might be related somehow?" Clark asked hesitantly, "I'm still trying to figure out how that works or if we broke any laws or something."

"If we're going by Krypton's laws, I don't think it matters since we might be the only ones left from the homeworld," Karen pointed out with a bemused snort, "Which brings me to the other reason I called you here. I got a report from my lab. They say that the Caduceus Driver is finally ready."

Clark paused in surprise, "Then that means..."

"Yes. I can go home again. That generator is going to provide the power needed for some of my tech to open a portal back to my timeline."

Clark remained speechless for a long moment before choking out, "Congratulations... when?"

"Tomorrow," Karen answered quickly before looking away, "Which is why I wanted to see you one more time. I felt I should make things right with you again and to say goodbye properly."

Clark stood in quiet shock at the news causing Karen to tilt her head slightly, "Clark? You're making me a little nervous here. Please, say something?"

He forced a smile and spoke quietly, "Thank you for telling me. I'm happy for you... really."

"You're lying and it's not making things easier here," Karen sighed to herself as she turned around, "God, this whole thing was a huge mistake. I shouldn't have done this. I already broke several of my personal rules... especially the ones about not getting attached to this world, or getting attached to anyone here."

"To someone like me?"

Karen turned back to face him, "You were the last person I wanted to fall for, but I did anyway and now we have to go our separate ways, back across time and space, never to be."

"I'd be lying if I hadn't been thinking the same thing," Clark admitted, "Maybe I should just make things easier and go now..."

She caught his wrist and looked up to him, "Clark wait... aren't you the least bit curious what it would have been like if things were different and we could be together?"

"If I said yes, then..."

"Then let's find out together," she said quietly as she leaned up and silenced him with a deep kiss.

Clark fumbled in surprise for a moment before picking her up and carrying her to the nearby sofa. They fell over one another, kissing each other hungrily and getting lost in a moment of desperate passion. Amid the kissing and caressing, Karen impatiently pulled off Clark's shirt and pulled him down on top of her gasping as she let him nibble at the neckline of her white tank top. Before things could go any further, Clark jumped a moment as his phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it free and prepared to toss it aside before he glanced at the caller ID. This time it was Kara, his real cousin from this Earth.

Karen kissed him a few more times before stopping in confusion, "Clark? What's wrong?"

He gestured for her to be quiet and answered the phone, "Kara? Is that you? Slow down... are you okay? What happened"

Karen froze and listened as the conversation progressed. Clark nodded with a serious look, "Okay, I think I know what's going on. I need you to come to my home in Metropolis as fast as you can okay? I promise I'll be there and help you. See you soon."

Clark let go and picked himself up of the couch as he pocketed his phone. There was a mixture of emotions on his face and Karen tried to decipher it while putting pieces of the conversation together, "Clark? Is everything okay?"

"Kara said she was in trouble," he said as he began to button his shirt back on, "I'm sorry. I have to get back to Metropolis."

"What happened?"

Clark took a deep breath and then looked to Karen with a grim expression, "Kara told me that was attacked by some of Brainiac's scout drones. She's being targeted too and now I think she's also in danger."

"So you're having her come to stay with you for protection," Karen reasoned.

He nodded, "I gave her my number and address if she ever needed me in the future. If you think about it, this is a hell of a way to have her come to terms and finally trust me, huh?"

The irony of the statement was not lost on Karen either. It was surreal enough seeing a younger version of her being put in this situation. It was almost like an out of body experience. And while this event might lead to Kara and Clark becoming closer as a true family, it was also shifting Karen off to the sidelines as she prepared to go home and leave this all behind, just when she was finally getting close to him too in other ways. Karen sat up and straightened her disheveled hair, "Do you want me to come with you?"

Clark grimaced as if he was torn, "I can't ask you to do that Karen. You're going home tomorrow and you don't have to stay and deal with this. Isn't that what you wanted before? A clean break?"

"Well... yes, but..."

"But you've got enough to deal with and sort through when you get back home," Clark said trying to put on a good stoic face about things as he headed for the open window. He stopped and took Karen's hand, "All I can say is that you should do what's best for you... and if this is goodbye, then I want you to know that the short time we got to spend together and get to know one another was important to me. I won't forget it. Thank you."

More than anything he wanted to kiss her again, but he give her hand one more squeeze before taking off into the night skies hoping he would be able to help Kara in her time of need. Once again, Karen was left standing alone at her window feeling disappointment and regret and all she could do was shake her head to herself at this cruel cosmic joke that was being played on her.

"Damn."

* * *

Not long after Clark arrived back home to his apartment and found that it was still empty, Brainiac's carrier ship moved into earth's orbit and prepared for next phase of the plan. The cybernetic collector ambled down a corridor of his ship and entered a lab where his newest prize had been brought in. Much to his delight, the youngest of the Kryptonians, the one named Kara was restrained to a chair. She had been captured in mid-flight by more drones while she was on her way to Metropolis. The teenage girl had been brought to the ship and was still unconscious while several monitors had been attached to her to take vital signs and take DNA samples. From where she sat, an alien device had been placed over her head recording brainwave patterns and slightly altering a few others.

The villainous cyborg reached out and placed a hand on her head before speaking, "Thank you little Kryptonian. Come tomorrow, I will seize this planet along with the rest of your brethren and I will have you to thank for all of it."


	8. Going Away Party

The next morning, Karen sat at her office desk drumming her fingers and staring blankly at some folders she was leaving behind for the running of Starr Industries. She had done her best to prepare for going home and it seemed surreal that it was really only going to be a few more hours until she would power on the Caduceus Driver and return to her own proper universe. As much as she was nervously anticipating her end goal, she couldn't help but continue thinking about yesterday evening. She still wasn't sure whether or not it worked out for the best. She had been ready to give in and say goodbye to Clark by getting intimate with him, but he had been called away by a call for help from the Kara of this world. It was hard to imagine that an alternate version of herself might have been in peril somewhere else and yet here she was, ready to be free of the responsibility of dealing with a threat from Brainiac. She hadn't heard from Clark and she wondered if it that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Nearby, Karen's friend Helena Wayne was busy filling a few more travel bags with stacks of money that could be used when they returned to their alternate Earth. Helena had flown in from the Caribbean last night and scratched her chin as she packed, "You think these will still be good back home?"

"Probably," Karen shrugged, "Do you really have to take that much money?"

"Remember, you probably won't have a Fortune 500 company and a humongous bank account when we get back," she winked, "I don't intend to be completely penniless and… hey, are you okay? You look a little out of it."

"Yeah… sorry, I'm just tired," Karen said evasively, "I guess I have a lot on my mind."

Helena raised an eyebrow and studied her closest friend, "I may have been gone globetrotting for a while, but I know you well enough to see you're holding out on something. Come on, what's wrong?"

Karen gave a warning frown to Helena and the two women stared each other down before Karen finally relented. Maybe she just felt like it wouldn't matter at this point and maybe she felt comforted by the presence of her best friend so she gave a quick summary of everything that had happened recently, especially with Clark and with the danger of Brainiac.

"Hmm… that is quite a story," Helena said pacing the room thoughtfully, "Plus I think I learned a little something new about you too. You've got some pretty weird kinks after all. You've got the hots for your cousin?"

"Helena! Be serious!" Karen scowled.

She raised her hands in a placating manner and stifled her teasing laughter, "Okay… sorry. This is still what you wanted though, right? To finally go home?"

"Sure it is… it's just that, I kinda feel like I'm leaving some things behind here. I didn't expect I'd still feel responsible and that there might be things here I'd kinda miss."

"Like Clark?" Helena asked, "About feeling safe and loved by someone unconditionally again?"

Karen shrugged and remained silent before Helena spoke again, "This earth has been a nice place for us. In some ways we've made new homes and lives here. I could understand if you'd have second thoughts about returning to an uncertain future on our own world. I am too."

"At the time, I didn't really believe Clark when he told me I still had a lot of good left to do here in this world. Now I feel like I'm just running away and I'm not so sure."

Before she could speak again, her phone rang and she picked it up when she saw it was Clark. "Clark, is everything okay?"

"I still don't know where Kara is," he answered with a nervous edge in his voice, "I've been up all night waiting and looking for her. She's not answering any calls, texts, emails… anything. I'm getting concerned and I wondered if by chance you've heard or seen anything."

"No," Karen admitted. Despite the alarming news, it was nice to know that he was calling her and that she'd get to speak to him one last time.

"I know this isn't the best time and that you'll be leaving soon," he said, "It's just…"

"It's okay Clark," she said gently, waving a nosy Helena off, "It's nice to hear from you too. Is there anything I can do?"

Before he could reply, several loud explosions were heard and sirens went off. Karen and Helena immediately got up and looked out the windows of the office to see a wave of alien attack drones descending from the skies. They had similar features to the other Brainiac drones she had fought in the past and Karen feared this was it. He must have been here and the major assault was going down. "I think you'd better get to New York really fast. We have trouble here. Brainiac trouble."

They ended the call and Karen watched as chaos and panic began to erupt in sections of the city. She turned to Helena, "You'd almost think Brainiac timed it this way to mock us. Are you up for tackling one last battle before we go?"

Helena cracked her knuckles and gave an easy smile, "Why not? I think I could definitely use the exercise."

* * *

As soon as they had been teleported in, the team of Justice League responders split off to deal with groups in the invaders who had landed in New York. Diana led one group going south while Bruce and a few other members moved east. Clark paused and waited so that he could listen for other sounds of trouble. Batman turned and called out, "Superman? Are you coming?"

Clark shook his head, "No. You guys go ahead. I'll head west. I hear some people in danger."

Bruce paused and narrowed his eyes as if reading his comrade's mind, "Stay focused and keep in close contact."

Clark gave a nod and bolted off at lightning speed while following his superhuman hearing. As he cruised low weaving through the narrow airspace of New York's buildings, he came across some drones who were rounding up civilians for capture. Before he could attack, several crossbow bolts flew out of nowhere destroying a pair of the invaders. Clark glanced toward a nearby rooftop and saw a mysterious heroine in purple garb slightly reminiscent of Batman swinging down while sniping at the drones. He ignored her and swooped in to bash aside the other sentries who were grabbing some of the helpless women and children on the street. He made short work of them, tearing the last one's arms off and smashing them over the drone's head to finish it when he saw a stray enemy shot cut the cable his ally was swinging on.

She began to fall but Clark soared over and caught her before angling down to set her safely on the street.

"Wow, lucky me," she grinned, "Thanks for the save Superman."

"Uh… you're welcome. Do I know you?" he asked as he placed her on the sidewalk.

"Just call me Huntress," Helena said with a wink, "I think we have a friend in common."

Moments later, heat ray beams shot down from the skies and destroyed the last remaining drones on the street. They looked up and saw Power Girl quickly descend onto the scene.

"Karen!" Clark called out, "Are you okay?"

"Aside from the hordes of space invaders running around my city, I'm just fine," Karen said grimly, "You just got here?"

He nodded, "I brought along some help from the Justice League. Given the circumstances, I hope you don't mind."

Karen grimaced but nodded in understanding. She turned to her other friend and waved her toward the frightened civilians who were cowering by a ruined storefront, "Helena, get these people to someplace safe. Clark and I will cover you from the air and clean up any stragglers."

Helena gave a nod and began to lead the civilians away to a safer zone while Clark and Karen split out in midair looking for trouble. When it seemed things had begun to calm down, Clark radioed Batman, "Bruce, what's your status?"

Amid the sounds of a battle raging, he heard the reply, "We're still a little tied down in our sector but we should have everything under control soon."

"Understood. I'll be there soon to help," Clark said as he started to angle away and change direction. He was about to tell Karen what was going on when a blurred shape of a person flew down from the skies and ambushed them. Whoever the attacker was had been carrying a car and hurled it down on Karen. Karen gave a surprised gasp as the flying car plowed into her and she smashed into the side of a nearby building.

Clark whirled around to see who his attacker was and stopped in shock when he saw who it was. "Kara? You're here? What the hell is going on?"

Hovering in front of him was the younger blonde teenage Supergirl still in her civilian clothes. "What does it look like? I'm here to take you in Clark."

"To where?" he asked in confusion while he studied her face. Something was definitely wrong. There was a blank faraway look in her eyes and she spoke in a cold semi-robotic way.

She regarded him with a grim look, "Who else? Brainiac of course."

"Come on Kara, quit messing around here," Clark said with a growing dread in his heart.

Before he knew it, she had raced forward and sent him hurtling backward with a hard right cross to his chin. "Do I look like I'm messing around? Last chance Superman."

Clark shook off the warning blow and continued to keep his distance as they hovered in midair, "Stop this right now Kara. I'm not your enemy. Brainiac must have done something to you. Don't you see he's using you?"

She flew forward again and the two locked hands in midair, grappling against each other; his strength against her speed. As they struggled, Clark gained a momentary advantage and restrained one of her arms, "We shouldn't do this Kara. We're family!"

She grunted and slipped free before hurling him off and driving him back with her shoulder, "I never said I trusted you."

"You called me because you were scared."

"Stop lying!" she said as she drove them both through a small building and crashed them into the pavement below. She attacked again but Clark blocked her aggressive blows and tried to restrain her, "Enough Kara! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Well that's your problem," she said while kicking him aside and taking advantage of his unwillingness to hit her back. Clark got up again and tried to raise his hands defensively to urge her to surrender. As she reared back in midair and dove down for another attack, she was swatted aside by a broken lamp post carried by Karen. Karen rejoined the fight and swooped in to attack and grapple with the brainwashed Supergirl. The two women crashed back and forth against several buildings before Karen blew her aside with a cyclonic spin. Before Kara could reorient herself, Karen punched her back again with her own right cross.

"Have you had enough?"

The younger heroine scowled and prepared to attack again when a cyborg-like figure hovered down from a small aircraft. One of Brainiac's body drones made its appearance and spoke, "That's enough Kara. Return to the ship."

Kara hovered for a moment before breaking off the attack and flying back upward toward Brainiac's ship which was now in low orbit over the Earth. From Karen's vantage point, she saw that the battles across New York had already simmered down. This had been a probing attack and one to get her attention as well as that of the Justice League. For now, it was certainly working. Karen clenched her fists, "You! You're Brainiac? What have you done to Kara?"

The cyborg regarded her with a blank stare, "You will have your answers soon Kryptonian. My terms will be simple. Surrender yourself and the one they call Superman and I will spare the better part of your world along with the life of the young girl."

"I think I'd like to renegotiate some terms," Karen growled as she soared up to attack her new enemy. Brainiac calmly powered a blaster cannon attached to its arm and fired a green glowing cloud of Kryptonite energy at her. Karen gasped and recoiled in pain from the beam as she felt her own strength and powers fade. She began to fall but was relieved when Clark soared up and was there to catch and steady her.

"Karen, are you okay?"

She nodded weakly and looked up to see Brainiac regard them both and turn its aircraft around to retreat, "I will be awaiting your surrender. You have twelve hours."

Once Brainiac left the battlefield, Clark drifted down to a rooftop and set Karen down, "What was all that about? What was he talking about?"

Karen grimaced, "This is not looking good Clark. Brainiac just laid out the terms of surrender to save Kara and the rest of the planet. He wants us. You and me."

Before he could process that new fact, he heard his other Justice League teammates radio him starting with Diana, "Clark? What's going on over there? Are you all right?"

He shook his head grimly and then looked to Karen, "I'm okay... but it looks like a new situation has just come up. I think we'd all get back to the Watchtower and have a little talk."

* * *

Some time later, Karen found herself up in the Watchtower standing before the leaders of the Justice League. It wasn't often she'd be standing in front of some other person's boardroom and feeling intimidated, but with all the legendary heroes looking at her here, she couldn't help but feel a little small and less confident. She had done everything in her power to avoid getting involved with these people and through some bizarre twist of fate, here she was on the very day she was set to depart this world and leave it all behind. She took some small comfort in the fact that Clark was there beside her helping to explain everything and reassuring them that she could be trusted.

"I still can't believe this is possible," Diana finally said after listening to Superman and Power Girl give a condensed summary of Karen's presence here as well as the Braniac issue, "An alternate universe? Three Kryptonians here at the same time?"

"I agree," Clark admitted, "It's still a little hard for me to wrap my own head around it. But right now, Kara is in danger. We have to help her and stop that alien collector."

"And we will but that might be difficult," Aquaman said carefully, "From what we're tracking of that giant ship, it might be hard for us to launch ann attack against it, much less bring it down. We don't have a special space fleet or resources to knock it down and extract Kara."

Clark frowned, "What if I go, then try to stop Brainiac from within his own ship?"

"No doubt this is still a trap," Bruce pointed out, "Brainiac will be counting on you do resist and will likely have countermeasures in place. You said he's already used some Kryptonite to neutralize Power Girl in the prior battle."

"It's a chance I'd have to take," Clark said stubbornly, "I know it might not be the best option, but we have to try something."

Green Lantern began to interject, "I know how you feel Clark but..."

"But nothing! Kara is still my family. She's all I have from my original world and I'm not going to give up on her," he insisted, "I'll go it alone if I have to."

The table fell silent before Karen spoke up having been moved by his conviction, "You're not going to get very far by yourself. You're going to need someone to watch your back and you're going to need something to blow up that carrier ship."

"And you have the means?" Batman asked skeptically.

"I do," Karen said with a level frown, "We can pull the old Trojan Horse play. We'll carry aboard my new portable Caduceus Driver and use that to blow the mothership up."

Clark balked, "Karen, are you insane? You want to come with? And you're willing to sacrifice your own power generator? I can't ask you to do that for me."

"What if I'm volunteering?" Karen said resolutely which surprised the rest of the League members at the table.

"You're giving up your means to go home," Diana pointed out, "Even if you rebuild another generator, finding the rare minerals to power the reactor might be costly and take a long time."

"If I don't do anything to stop this threat, there won't be an Earth here left anyway," Karen countered, "I already failed to protect my own Earth. I never got the chance, but now I've got an opportunity to save another Earth."

She looked to Clark, "It may not be mine, but it's become like another home and I've learned that there are things here worth fighting for and preserving."

Clark smiled and nodded in silent gratitude, touched by the gesture, "You're really sure about this? You're making a major sacrifice here."

"The Superman of my world made the ultimate sacrifice in defending it," Karen said as she steeled her own resolve, "The least I could do is honor his memory by doing something good like you had talked about. I can't ask you to sacrifice your own true family here either."

The other League members sat quietly and exchanged hesitant looks with each other before Clark to turned to address the table, "All right... then it's decided. We don't have a whole lot of time to waste. Let's get Kara back and stop Brainiac once and for all."


	9. Reunion

After taking a brief visit at the labs of Starr Industries, Karen returned to the Watchtower with her new power generator in tow. She kept it in a small duffle bag and made sure it was secure so that it wouldn't be damaged along the way to Brainiac's carrier. Once Clark and Karen had suited up for battle, they met with the rest of the League's leadership in an open hanger of the tower. The outside vacuum of space was being sealed out by a force field wall and the view of the planet showed Brainiac's carrier looming in the distance of the planet's horizon. By now, night would have fallen back home in Metropolis and New York but in space, it was all relative.

Karen secured her bag and gave a stoic nod before Clark approached with the rest of his comrades, "Karen… I just wanted to thank you again for everything you're doing now. You're taking a big risk and making an even bigger sacrifice."

"I know," she said, "But I can't help but feel that this is still the right thing to do."

Batman regarded Clark quietly, "We have the rest of the plan in place. You're sure you can really trust her?"

Clark looked to the Dark Knight with a level gaze and didn't take offense to the statement. He knew that Batman had mistrusted him in the past for fear that he would lose control and use his Kryptonian powers for evil and destruction. In his own odd way, Bruce was just showing he was concerned. He answered Batman, "I do. Whether she want to admit it or note, she's one of us now."

Karen felt a little off balance and self conscious before Wonder Woman came over and offered her a welcoming hand, "In that case, be careful out there. Come home safe and keep Clark safe too."

"I… thanks. I will," Karen answered while shaking Diana's hand.

Before they turned to leave, Cyborg stepped forward and handed Clark a small device, "Oh Clark, before you go I wanted to give you this. I thought it might come in handy if you have to face off with Kara again."  
Clark took the small hand transmitter and studied it while Cyborg continued, "It's a signal jammer that I specially modified. If this Brainiac guy is manipulating Kara with some special brainwave devices, this might be able to stop them or help her shake off the effects."

"Thanks," Clark smiled as he tucked the device away and looked to Karen, "Are you ready to go surrender?"

"Let's do this," she nodded seriously.

The other League members watched as Superman and Power Girl took off and flew from the hangers out into open space. The two flew unhindered in space and soared at great speed until they reached the outer hull of the alien carrier a short time later. They hovered in place for a moment waiting for some kind of reaction while the ship hung in stationary orbit. Karen wrinkled her features, "Well they're not shooting at us… that's good. What now? Should we knock on the front door or something?"

Her question was answered as one of the hanger docks of the ship opened up and allowed them a passageway inside. The two heroes entered cautiously and slowly glided deeper into the corridors of the vessel. To their surprise, they met no resistance at all. Several other types of mechanical drones paid them little mind and passed by to carry out their other functions on the ship. Even some of the sentry drones who stood by some doorways and paths of the hanger did not react at all. Clark narrowed his eyes and looked to Karen, "Stay sharp. We can't afford to let our guards down."

They continued on until they came to a busy concourse of the alien carrier. All around they saw projector screens showing flashes of different worlds and creatures that had been collected and assimilated into Brainiac's databanks. As they stood in awe, a hovering drone came up and greeted them. It beckoned for the two to follow it and they did, slowly gliding down a few more secure corridors. Eventually, the path opened up again into a very large central control room with decks of computers and monitor screens. At the center of the room was a command chair with an antennae structure where Brainiac sat plugged in to the main controls. Standing nearby was Supergirl who regarded the two visitors with a look of cool indifference.

"Kara! Are you okay?" Clark called out but he turned when he saw Brainiac rise from his seat.

"She will talk to you when I tell her to. You've come to surrender to me then?"

"We've come as you asked," Karen answered, "But the jury is still out on if you're going to get a formal surrender from us."

"It matters very little," the cybernetic villain said calmly, "In the end I will get my way."

"What is it you want exactly?" Clark asked, "When we came in here, there were all these images displayed of alien worlds, of cities, and wonders across the universe."

"The answer is simple," Brainiac replied, "I'm here to preserve the knowledge and only the pinnacle aspects of the worlds I come across."

"And what about the rest of the people and the environments of those worlds?" Karen asked in dread.

"They are unworthy so they are destroyed," Brainiac said with almost a hint of a smile in his voice, "Besides, isn't knowledge and peak specimens all the more valuable when they are very rare?"

"You're a monster. Then that's what you'll do with the rest of Earth? After you've plundered its knowledge and technology?" Karen asked.

"That is correct."

"But why us?" Clark asked, "Why are you so interested in me and Karen and Kara?"

Brainiac sighed, "I have already collected some knowledge and specimens from the planet Krypton, among them some bits of DNA as well as the rocks called Kryptonite. I was not expecting to find you few Kryptonians here and I did not expect that you would manifest such different abilities under an alien environment like the Earth. I want to study you and learn so that I might be able to incorporate some of your powers too. Kryptonian DNA is such a complex and unique thing... so much potential for great power."

"Well if you want a demonstration of that power, we'll be happy to give it to you," Karen said as her eyes flared. She fired a powerful heat ray beam at caught Brainiac by surprise and sent him smashing through a wall of the ship into another chamber, "Clark? Cover me!"

Karen got to work planting her power generator and started to arm it to overload as if it were some sort of time bomb. Meanwhile, Kara sprung forward to stop her but she was intercepted by Superman and the two began to grapple in the center of the room. Clark knew he didn't have a lot of time, and while he maintained his defensive fighting stance, he didn't want to hurt his younger cousin either. The younger girl beat away at his guard and tried to force him back causing him to grunt, "Come on! Snap out of it Kara! It's me, Clark!"

"All I see is my enemy and a liar!" she cried before he caught her arm and put her into a headlock and slammed her down into the floor. She continued to kick and thrash against his hold so he pulled out the signal jammer that Cyborg had given him. He activated it and continued to restrain Supergirl while saying a prayer that it would work. After several long moments, Kara let up and gave a disoriented cry as the jammer interfered with the brainwave transmitter that was coming from Brainiac's command chair. As the signal was overcome and the antennae blew out, Kara slumped down and shook out her head as she slowly began to come back to her senses.

Her eyes began to refocus as if she was coming out of some waking dream and she paused when she realized where she was and what she had done. She stared at Superman with a regretful look and spoke in a small voice, "Clark? Is that really you? Was I...?"

Clark smiled in relief and gave her a reassuring hug, "It's okay Kara. It's me... and it's all right. I promise everything will be okay."

The two cousins didn't have long to savor their reunion and final reconciliation before they were both blasted aside by some Kryptonite beams of Brainiac's arm cannon. He had recovered and returned to the fight, just as Karen armed the Caduceus Driver to go off at a set time. While Brainiac didn't spot the generator, he did see Karen and opened fire on her put she took to the air to evade the beams. What she didn't count on was for Brainiac to extend a metallic tentacle cable from his other arm and lash out to attack from range. He swatted Power Girl out of the air and before she could recover her balance, he hooked the cable around her ankle and whipped her about smashing her into some of the computer monitors around the room.

Meanwhile, Clark groaned and slowly got back up to his knees. Whatever had hit him packed a real punch. He had seen a flash of green and could only guess that it must have been a Kryptonite powered weapon. He took a moment to feel some of his strength returning but saw that Kara had been completely stunned. She gave a low moan and lay flat so it was unlikely she's be getting back into this fight. Out the corner of his eye, he saw Karen being whipped around the room and knew he had to get in there and help her. He reached for his comm and called in to the Justice League, "All right gang... we could use a little distraction right around now."

From outside the space carrier, a shuttle ship from the Watchtower that was piloted by Batman and Aquaman opened fire on the bridge. Also flying alongside the shuttle was Green Lantern who used his ring to attack the outer hull and weapon emplacements in various ways. The momentary distraction caused Brainiac to pause in his own battle which gave Karen an opportunity to strike back. She broke the cable around her ankle and tugged it back to abruptly pull Brainiac toward her. She hammered him back with a series of hard punches and tore off his Kryptonite blaster as he brought it around for another shot.

Before she could throw another punch, Brainiac raised his other arm and used another counter-measure weapon. A burst of highly concentrated red sunlight radiated out from a projector in his hand and stopped Power Girl in her tracks. Karen was stunned by a wave of momentary weakness before she felt the wind knocked out of her. Bainiac hammered her with a fierce body blow and backhanded her into a group of computer monitors nearby. "It's pointless to resist Kryptonian. Your body will give out long before mine ever does."

"We'll just see about that," Clark chimed in as he soared in low and fast for a flank attack. He smashed into Brainiac and drove him through another bulkhead before punching him clear across the span of the next room. As Superman continued to pummel Brainiac in a brutal fight across the ship, one of his punches caved in part of the cyborg's head. Brainiac raised a hand imploring Clark to yield a moment, "Wait... are you in such a rush to destroy that you've forgotten I have something to offer you?"

Clark stopped just short and gripped Brainiac by the neck, "Talk quickly."

"Your homeworld... Krypton. I hold some knowledge of it in my databanks. Aren't you the least bit curious? I can give it to you."

That made Clark pause for a moment in indecisiveness. The offer was tempting and played at his heart for just a moment. That moment was just enough for Brainiac to recharge his red solar projector. He unleashed another burst directed at Clark and struck him down with a counterblow. The cyborg gripped Superman by the throat and lifted him up with a crushing grip. "You beings of flesh and bone, so weak on the outside... and just as weak on the inside."

The carrier rumbled again from the outside as the Justice League continued its harrying assault. Clark summoned just enough strength for a desperate final strike and reared back, "How's this for weak?"

He struck a blow with all the force he could muster and his fist punched clean through Brainiac's chest and out through his back in a cloud of circuits and shrapnel. Brainiac staggered back and let go, pitching over to the side of a console as electricity surged from the gaping wound in his chest. "This is far from over Kryptonian. You have only destroyed one of my many bodies. I will return..."

"And when you do, I'll be waiting..." Clark answered as he tried to catch his own breath while steadying himself on his knees. The severely damaged shell of Brainiac powered down and collapsed to the floor in a lifeless heap before Clark heard his name being called. He turned and looked toward one of the gaping holes in the bulkhead walls to see Karen enter. Like Clark she was looking a little worn and ragged from the battle but she was also carrying the limp form of Kara over one shoulder.

"Clark... we don't have a lot of time. We have to take Kara and get out of here before the generator goes off," she said.

Clark nodded and hurried over helping to share some of the burden of carrying Kara. Both Clark and Karen had felt some of their strength had been sapped from the Kryptonite and red sunlight but they probably had enough energy to make their escape. They had to take that gamble. While they both hurried down the corridors as fast they could in their exhausted states, they pushed past some of the drones back toward the hangers. Deeper within the carrier ship, Brainiac's recorded consciousness was recovered and downloaded into another one of his many replacement bodies. Once he was fully powered up and rearmed, he would destroy the planet Earth and make those Kryptonians pay for resisting him. Unknown to him, he would never get that chance as the Caduceus Driver reached critical mass and detonated in the heart of the command room where it had been planted.

A large explosion rocked the center of the ship as a massive burst of energy began to radiate outward, tearing the massive carrier ship to pieces and obliterating everything in its path. As they reached the open hangers, Clark and Karen felt the ship shudder and shake. They exchanged a quick look and Karen gulped, "Uh oh... the generator must have gone off. We don't have much time at all."

Clark radioed their allies, "Bruce, you'd better get everyone else clear. This place is going to blow any second."

Batman gave an affirmative before Clark turned to Karen, "Let's go. We have to try and make a run for it."

By now, some of the other drones nearby got Brainiac's new instructions and began to turn menacingly to try and stop the invaders on the ship. The Kryptonians took off and flew as fast as they could before the hanger doors could close again and they cleared the barrier just in time. As they continued to race away with Kara in tow, the explosion from the Caduceus Driver continued to expand until it engulfed the entire carrier ship. Mere moments later, the super carrier ship was completely obliterated and reduced to a massive cloud of fiery wreckage that blossomed out in every direction. Clark and Karen were caught in the tail end of the blast and stunned by the overwhelming rush of light, heat, and force. Despite being thrown end over end and momentarily blacking out, both of them kept hold of Kara with protective grips until the blast subsided and they were left drifting in space over Earth.

He wasn't sure how long he had been stunned, but when Clark finally started coming back around to his senses and cracked an eye open, he was relieved to find Kara was still safely in his arms while Karen clung to them on the opposite end. She was just recovering her wits too and as they floated through space with a gentle spin, they caught each others eyes and exchanged a small quiet smile. Moments later, the Justice League's shuttle appeared and Green Lantern's voice came in over the comm to Clark, "Hey, are you guys okay? How about we give you a lift home?"

"Right now, there's no other place I'd rather be," Clark grinned as the three Kryptonians continued to drift peacefully and wait for help to arrive.

* * *

Some time later that night, clouds of debris from Brainiac's destroyed carrier rained down over Earth in the form of falling stars. As the streaks of fiery light showered down, the businessman Lex Luthor stood looking out of the windows from the top floor of his office building at Lexcorp. He watched quietly before he heard the phone ring and he answered it. The call came from one of the chief scientists at a Lexcorp research facility. "Dr. Palencia?"

"Mr. Luthor, we're tracking the largest pieces of debris that are falling through the atmosphere just as you had asked us. What exactly do you want us to do now?"

The businessman narrowed his eyes to the falling stars and gave a twisted smile, "I want you to mark where that debris lands and send out recovery teams to pick up whatever you can salvage there."

The researcher hesitated, "Mr. Luthor... isn't that... shouldn't we leave that up to the federal authorities? Or the Air Force?"

Lex Luthor shook his head, "The government agents won't miss what isn't there Dr. Palencia. I want whatever can be found in the wreckage of that alien craft. If it can give my company an even bigger advantage against our competitors, than any risk will be worth it. Now get to work."

He hung up the phone and continued to stand with his hands folded behind his back watching the meteor shower and considering the possibilities of his own dark ambitions.

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Sorry everyone, I won't be doing a Lex Luthor subplot. That was just thrown in for a little bit of fun at the end here, but I do plan to wrap up this whole story in one more chapter. Stay tuned. I should be getting it out very soon.**


	10. New Beginnings

**Epilogue:  
**

Following the destruction of Brainiac's carrier ship, there had been a lot of confusion from the people of Earth about sudden atmospheric events and reports of small meteorite strikes around the globe. Of course, the truth was largely covered up and swept under the rug so as not to alarm the public. By now, everybody knew about the Justice League and was aware that there were threats from outer space. What people weren't aware of was the extent of the threat and given the recent events, it was probably for the best that they didn't know. As far as the Justice League was concerned, dealing with the paranoia of government officials from around the world was more than enough trouble anyway.

As midday sunlight filled the bright blue skies, Clark flew into the airspace of New York at Mach 2 speed. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that he couldn't really write a news report on the battle with Brainiac as it was still classified and perhaps a little self serving too. He glided down from the skies and headed toward the roof of a tall skyscraper but he took some time to look around too. It had been a week since the alien attack on New York and by now things seemed to be getting back to some sense of normalcy in the city. The drones that had been destroyed were cleared out and confiscated by the feds, and citizen began to rebuild from the damage and get back on with their daily lives. That was always an encouraging sign and Clark smiled quietly to himself, enjoying the relative peace that had been restored this Saturday morning.

He touched down gently on the skyscraper rooftop and admired the panoramic view of the city. This had been the spot he had originally chased Karen down to when they first met and it seemed fitting that it would serve as their meeting spot once more. He scanned the skies for a few moments before he caught sight of her returning from her own patrol. He waited as Power Girl leveled off and landed softly on the rooftop nearby. She gave a smile and swept back her own red cape as she walked forward to greet him. "Fancy meeting you here Superman."

"Oh I was just in the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by," he said returning the smile, "A friend of mine named Karen Starr invited me. Maybe you know her?"

She chuckled gently and came to join him as they stood looking out over the city. "Thanks for coming. It's good to see you again."

"I see the city is doing better," Clark noted, "How about you?"

Karen gave a wistful smile and looked out toward the skyline, "I wasn't sure for a while... but all things considered, I think I'll be okay. I was a little worried Helena might get upset with my decision to sacrifice the Caduceus Driver, but she was surprisingly understanding. Part of me thinks she doesn't mind staying here longer and she wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to this earth just yet."

"Or you?" Clark teased her gently.

Karen gave a wry smirk and shook her head to herself before changing the topic, "How are things going with the League? I imagine I caused a bit of a stir and that they're still pretty busy cleaning up this mess now."

"We're busy... but I'm willing to take some time out for other people who have priority in my life right now," Clark answered.

"Now I know you can't be talking about me," Karen joked in a self deprecating way, "What about Kara? Is she all right?"

Clark nodded, "She's doing better. She's going to be staying with me in Metropolis for a while so she finish sorting things out and getting used to having a family around who is there for her."

"I guess that means that you'll probably have your hands full and you won't be able to cruise by New York," Karen sighed in resignation, "I mean... now that you've got Kara around to bond with, you don't really need me hanging around to get in the way and make things even weirder."

"You wouldn't be in the way," Clark answered trying to sound encouraging, "And it wouldn't be weird either... even if you're both kind of the same person... but from alternate dimensions and... okay, maybe that is kinda weird, but I don't care. I'm still willing to make it work."

Karen raised a questioning eyebrow and snorted in amusement before looking out over the city again, "You know... there was something else I was thinking about earlier. You don't think that we've really seen the last of Brainiac, do you?"

"I'd like to think so. His ship was destroyed and I doubt anything could have survived that explosion," Clark shrugged, "The odds of such a thing are pretty slim, don't you think?"

"You could say the same thing about us," Karen countered, "The fact we survived our fates on Krypton and made it on our respective Earths... or that we're even here together on this same world."

Clark remained silent and conceded the point. He hoped she was wrong about Brainiac. In lieu of having any concrete evidence that he was gone, the best they could do was to simply remain vigilant. After a time, Clark furrowed his brow, "You know Karen... there is one other thing I've been thinking about since our battle with Brainiac. Maybe it's something I have regrets about."

She looked to him curiously as he continued, "Brainiac said he had some information about Krypton in his databanks. He offered it to me hoping I would drop my guard in our fight. I almost let him get me because of it. Maybe he was lying, but I just think it's a shame that his ship was destroyed and that data may have been lost. I would have liked to finally get a hold of something to learn a little more about where I came from and who I am, you know?"

Karen stood quietly for a minute before clearing her throat, "Actually, that's also part of the reason why I asked you to come today."

"What do you mean?"

"I wanted to surprise you with some spoils from the battle," she explained, "Back on the ship when you started brawling with Brainiac and kicking his ass all over the place, I... might have recovered some files from his database and made copies of it before I got Kara. I figured since you grew up kinda differently here and never got a chance to learn anything about Krypton, you might be interested in it."

Clark's eyes went wide and he stood speechless. He finally choked out a few astonished words, "You... you really managed to save some of the records? And you have them?"

"Well, yes. But not on me at the exact moment," she said gesturing to her outfit dramatically, "I mean, where would I even carry them? And no, don't you dare be a smartass and even try to answer that question."

Clark broke out into a bright smile and nodded quietly, "Thank you Karen. I appreciate the gesture. That really means a lot to me."

"I have the records back at my home," Karen explained, "I can give them to you there and maybe you can even look them over a little bit too. You're not in a big rush, are you?"

"Well... I did sorta make plans with Kara later today," Clark admitted sheepishly, "She wanted to go sightseeing around Metropolis followed by a big music concert so I agreed to it."

"Oh. I see," Karen sighed with a slight hint disappointment in her voice, "That's okay... really. If you're short on time, then I understand."

"Ah well... I was actually thinking I'd stick around here just a little while longer," Clark said thoughtfully, "If I really rush home, then that buys me about a half hour more here."

"Hmm" Karen nodded, "You could review a lot of records in that time."

"Yeah, but I think the records can wait for today," he said stepping closer to her.

Karen caught on and met him with a suggestive look, "Oh? And how exactly did you plan to spend your time here then?"

"I was hoping you could help me figure that part out. I'm sure we could think of something," he smiled as he gathered her up in his arms and gave her a long tender kiss. When they finally parted and reluctantly let go of each other, Clark took her hand and began to gently ascend upward, "Come on. Let's go home."

Home. That word meant a lot of different things to both of them, even moreso now. With the salvaged records of Krypton, Clark had gained some access to his original home; a home he never knew. And as for Karen, she might have sacrificed her chance to return to her original home, but she had gained a new one here in this world. Here she realized she had the makings of new friends, new family, and a new lease on life altogether. As she took Clark's hand and ascended upwards to join him in the clear blue skies above, she didn't feel any fear or regret. They were headed off into the sunlit skies and toward a brighter new beginning.

 **The End**

* * *

 **A/N:**  
 **Thanks again to anyone and everyone who has taken the time to read and leave comments on this fic. Hopefully you enjoyed the story. I admit the idea of shipping Clark and Karen might be a bit weird and unconventional by normal standards but I guess I can't help it. I wanted to see if there was a way to make that relationship work in a semi-believable way and I hope I succeeded. Plus I guess I just enjoy a good writing challenge.**

 **If you did enjoy the story, please feel free to let me know and don't be afraid to leave any other comments or questions. I always love to hear the opinions of readers and have open dialogues with others. Thanks again everyone!**


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